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Drawn  by F. Mackenzie.  Engraved  bv  J.Le  Keux. 

BAT  MI  AMEY    CMTUHtCM, 

TART  OT  PRIOR  BIRDS    MOOTKECTTAX  CHASTTRY. 
To  sir  BENJAKIN  HOBHOTJST.  bar?  t.r.4  A.S. &«.£<:  this  -plate  is  inscribed  from  motives  of  esteem  "bv  the 

i  t'  nlTUnt 


LendotxJhblUiwd  bu  zhtAutiwr.Burton  Street,  JtuteWZi 

Pbnlfd  (JrHa.J'tt'artl 


THE 


HISTORY  AND  ANTIQUITIES 


OF 


BATH    ABBEY    CHURCH 


INCLUDING 


Biographical  Stoertrotess 

OF    THE 

MOST   DISTINGUISHED    PERSONS 

INTERRED   IN   THAT   EDIFICE; 

WITH    AN 

<£&iag  on  <£pttaj)!tf, 

IN   WHICH   ITS 

PRINCIPAL    MONUMENTAL    INSCRIPTIONS 

ARE  RECORDED. 

Ulugtratdr  tig  a  Sbtxitz  of  lEngrabmgs. 


'   A* If 


IF  A  l'OSSIL,  A  PLANT,  OR  AN  INSECT,  BE  ACKNOWLEDGED  AS  A  FIT  SUBJECT  FOR  RATIONAL  INQUIRY  AND 
ENGRAVED  DISPLAY,  SO  ALSO  A  NOBLE  CHURCH,  WHEN  CONSIDERED  AS  A  PRODUCTION  OF  THE  BEST  FACULTIES 
OF  MAN,  MUST  BE  REGARDED  AS  HAVING  PECULIAR  DEMANDS  ON  THE  ATTENTION  OF  THE  HISTORIAN  AND 
ANTIQUARY,  AND  WORTHY  OF  THE  BEST  EFFORTS  OF  GRAPHIC  ILLUSTRATION. 


By  JOHN  BRITTON,  F.S.A. 


ETC.    ETC. 


LONDON : 

PRINTED    FOR    THE    AUTHOR,    BURTON-STREET  ;     LONGMAN    AND     CO.,    PATERNOSTER-KOW ;     TAYLOR, 
59,    HIGH    IIOLBORN  ;   AND  SOLD  BY  THE  BOOKSELLERS  OF  BATH,  &C. 

1825. 


LONDON  ; — PRINTED  BV  J.  MOVES,  BOL" V£RJ Jt  S3KJSET. 


®o  fljc  lEsteemeo'  Jfflemorrj 

of  lljc  late 

ftrttmfr  Bfofon  Stasias  Conpbeare,  ffl.%. 

5HJo  comrrinelr  tn  fjts  ofon  person 
tfje  profound  an&  motrest  Sbcfiolar, 
tjje  liberal  anft  enligfitenefc  ©ritt'c, 
tfje  crutrite  JWtneralogtst,  rfie  acute  anttquarg, 
rfce  amiaole  an&  cfiart'table  ^arisS  Uicar, 
tfie  sincere  JtfeniJ  anto  affectionate  IMattbe; 

©fife  Folnme  is  InscrtbeJf, 
aSlttfi  sentiments  of  real  personal  regartr, 
anil  sorrow  for  fife  loss, 

3Sj)  tf)t  %utf)Qr. 


ISurton  Street,  Eontfon, 
3tll»  1,  1824. 

JRepttateB,  Sanitate  1825. 


CONTENTS. 


PAG  I 

Address    vii 

Preface viii 


CHAPTER  I. 

Origin  of  Bath,  1. — Fabulous  Account  of  its  Antiquity  and  Magnificence,  2,  3. — Legend  of 
Bladud  and  his  Swine,  4. — Discovery  of  the  Hot  Springs,  4. — British  History  of  Bladud,  5. — Ety- 
mology of  the  Name  of  Bath,  7.— Roman  Occupation  of  this  City,  8. — Particulars  of  the  Temple 
of  Minerva,  8. — Site  and  Remains  of  Ditto,  9. — Apology,  10. 


CHAPTER  II. 

Bath  under  the  Saxons,  11. — Foundation  of  a  Nunnery,  12. — Early  History  of  the  Abbey 
Church,  13,  14. — Expulsion  of  the  Secular  Clergy,  15. — Account  of  Abbot  Elphegus,  15. — Suc- 
cession of  the  Abbots,  and  Coronation  of  King  Edgar,  15,  16. — Saintly  Relics,  17. — The  City,  &c. 
granted  to  the  Abbey  Church,  18.— Bishop  John  de  Villula,  and  Removal  of  the  See  from  Wells 
to  Bath,  18,  19. — Bishop  John's  Gifts,  20,21. — Bishops  Godfrey  and  Robert,  21,  22.— Disputes  con- 
cerning the  Episcopal  Seat,  and  the  Title  of  Bath  and  Wells  given  to  this  Bishopric,  22. — Bishops 
Fitz-Joceline  and  Savaric,  23,  24. — Joceline  de  Welles,  24. — Bishop  Roger,  25. — Priors  of  Bath, 
25 — 29. — Dissolution  of  the  Monastery,  29. — Learned  Monks  of  Bath,  29,  30. — Weaving  Business, 
30. — Ecclesiastical  Persecution,  30.  —  Grants  of  the  Monastic  Property  by  Henry  VIII.  and 
Edward  VI.  30,  31. 

CHAPTER  III. 

Erection  of  the  present  Church,  32. — Account  of  Bishop  Oliver  King,  and  Uncertainty  of  his 
Burial-place,  32. — His  Vision,  and  consequent  Foundation  of  this  Fabric,  33 — 35. — His  Injunctions 
to  Prior  Birde,  35. — Progress  of  the  Building,  35,  36. — Poetical  Account  of  Prior  Holleweye,  36. — 
Successive  Masters  of  the  Works,  37,  note. — State  of  the  Abbey  Church  in  Queen  Elizabeth's 
Reign,  37. — Given  to  the  Corporation,  39. — Repaired'  by  Chapman,  Bellot,  and  others,  39, 40. — 
Solicitude  of  Sir  John  Harington  to  complete  it,  41 — 44. — Bishop  Montague  induced  to  continue 
the  Work,  44. — Improvements  recently  made,  44 — 46. — Discovery  of  Roman  Baths  under  the 
Abbey  House,  46. — Ditto  of  Monastic  Vestments,  47. — Arms  in  the  Monks'  Parlour,  47,  48. 

CHAPTER  IV. 

Situation  and  General  Features  of  the  City  of  Bath,  48.— Architectural  Description  of  the 
Abbey  Church,  with  reference  to  the  accompanying  Prints,  50 — 67. 

b 


VI  CONTENTS. 

Plate  page 

I.  Ground  Plan 50—55 

II.  Interior :  Details  of  Groining 57 

III.  Exterior :  View  of  the  West  Front ib. 

IV View  from  the  South-east 60 

V. View  of  the  East  End    ib. 

VI.  Interior  :  Details  from  different  Parts  of  the  Church    61 

VII View  of  the  Nave    ib. 

VIII View  across  the  Nave  looking  South-west    ib. 

IX Elevations  of  Parts  of  the  Choir,  Tower,  and  Nave 62 

X.   Title  Page  :  Part  of  Prior  Birde's  Chapel 63 

State  of  the  Choir,  64. — Reflections  on  the  Sepulchral  Memorials  in  the  Abbey  Church,  65. — 
General  Remarks  on  Monumental  Incongruities,  66 — 68. — The  Custom  of  Interring  the  Dead  within 
Churches  reprehended,  67. 

CHAPTER  V. 

An  Essay  on  the  Origin  and  Characteristics  of  Epitaphs,  with  Examples  of  various  Classes  from 
the  Abbey  Church  of  Bath,  68 — Epitaphs  in  Latin  Verse,  72. — Ditto  in  English  Verse,  72,  73. — 
Ditto  in  Latin  Prose,  78. — Ditto  in  English  Prose,  &c.  82. 

CHAPTER  VI. 

Biographical  Anecdotes  of  the  most  distinguished  Persons  interred  in  the  Abbey  Church — (Vide 
Index  for  the  names) — 84 — 137. 

Num.  APPENDIX. 

I.  Grant  of  Bath  Abbey  to  Bishop  John  de  Villula,  by  King  WilliamRufus 138 

II.  Grant  of  the  City  of  Bath  to  the  same  Bishop,  by  King  William  Rufus      139 

III.  Letter  of  Bishop  Drokensford ib. 

IV.  Injunctions  of  Bishop  King 140 

V.  Certaine  Remembrances,  &c.  touching  the  Reparation  of  the  Church  of  St.  Peter  and 

Paul  in  the  Cittie  of  Bathe,  since  the  maine  Ruins  of  the  same 141 

List  of  distinguished  Persons,  &c 148 

Index 152 

Anecdotes  of  Bath   155 


ADDRESS. 


Nearly  the  whole  of  this  volume  was  printed  and  ready  for  publication 
in  August  last,  when  a  fire  at  the  office  of  the  printer  consumed  the 
entire  Impression,  and  the  author  has  been  obliged  to  have  the  Work 
reprinted,  which  has  consequently  delayed  its  appearance.  This  interval 
has  not,  however,  been  neglected  by  him,  nor  has  the  Work  suffered, 
either  in  style  or  matter,  by  the  delay :  for  the  author  has  revisited 
Bath  Abbey,  and  endeavoured  to  render  the  volume  more  correct,  not 
only  by  his  own  re-examination  and  investigation,  but  by  the  suggestions 
of  friends,  to  whom  he  has  submitted  a  copy  that  was  saved  from  the 
flames. 

January  1825. 


A  PREFACE, 

Besides  serving  to  explain  the  origin  and  object  of  the  Work  to  which 
it  is  attached,  is  also  intended  to  propitiate  the  professed  and  discri- 
minating Critic, — whose  passport  is  fame,  or  whose  censure  is  con- 
demnation. It  likewise  enables  the  writer  to  render  due  acknowledg- 
ments for  favours,  and  thus  record  the  names  of  those  persons  who 
have  contributed  to  mitigate  the  labour  of  investigation,  and  enlighten 
the  public  by  imparting  useful  facts.  Perhaps  there  is  no  branch  of 
literature  in  which  an  author  has  so  much  occasion  for  co-operation — 
for  friendly  assistance — for  the  aid  of  intelligent  correspondents — as 
that  devoted  to  Topography  and  Antiquity;  for  there  is  none  that 
involves  more  varied,  extensive,  and  dissimilar  subjects,  for  inquiry 
and  elucidation.  Almost  every  department  of  art  and  science,  as  well 
as  of  history,  biography,  statistics,  &c,  are,  or  ought  to  be,  familiar  to 
the  antiquary ;  for  without  such  attainments  he  can  never  do  justice  to 
the  manifold  subjects  that  come  under  his  review.  Devoted  to  this 
department  of  literature,  and  that  zealously  and  actively,  for  the  last 
twenty-five  years,  the  author  has  had  frequent  and  mortifying  occasions 
to  witness  the  deficiencies  of  some  of  his  predecessors  and  contempo- 
raries ;  and  has  endeavoured  to  avoid  their  defects,  but  to  profit  by  their 
best  writings,  in  his  own  literary  works.  His  aim  has  been  to  exemplify 
the  motto  in  the  title-page,  being  fully  convinced  that  an  antient  Cathedral 
presents  an  interesting  and  commanding  subject  for  history  and  for  dis- 
quisition. It  is  a  monument  of  Art  and  Science,  —  an  imposing  record 
of  the  customs,  manners,  and  taste  of  our  ancestors; — it  fastens  on 
the  eye  and  fancy  by  the  most  powerful  appeal;  it  shews  what  our  fore- 
fathers were,  what  they  did,  and  how  they  operated; — it  serves  at  once 
to  make  us  wise  and  humble,  as  it  induces  us  to  emulate  their  merits  and 
to  question  our  own.  As  an  object  of  beauty,  of  curiosity,  and  of  a 
remote  age,  —  as  venerable  in  its  economy  and  sacred  rites, — and  as 


PREFACE.  IX 

dedicated  to  the  most  sublime  purposes, — it  may  be  safely  said  that 
no  work  of  man  is  to  be  compared  with  the  grand  antient  Christian 
Church ;  its  aggregate  effect  excites  astonishment ;  its  details  afford 
pleasure.  Unlike  the  gigantic,  and  in  some  respects  appalling  ex- 
cavations of  India;  and  equally  unlike  the  heathenish  and  heavy 
Temples  of  Greece  and  Italy,  the  Churches,  miscalled  Gothic,  are  light, 
comparatively  cheerful,  replete  with  beauty,  and  abound  in  picturesque 
variety:  —contemplated  in  a  pristine  and  a  perfect  state,  they  awaken 
admiration,  and  afford  permanent  delight.  In  their  varied  stages  of  ruin, 
they  awaken  the  mingled  sentiments  of  pleasure  and  melancholy.  The 
casual  observer,  however,  notices  them  merely  as  masses  of  Masonry  and 
Sculpture ;  but  the  philosophical  and  scientific  antiquary  analyses  their 
design  and  execution,  and  thence  endeavours  to  appreciate  the  charac- 
teristics of  the  age,  and  of  the  artists,  when  and  by  whom  they  were 
raised.  In  their  chronological  history  they  clearly  shew  that  Genius 
and  Imagination  were  unrestrained  on  those  subjects  at  the  respective 
ages  of  their  erection;  and  that  the  result  was  a  progressive  improve- 
ment, and  a  regular  advancement  in  the  principles  of  beauty  and  taste  ; 
from  the  middle  of  the  eleventh  to  the  middle  of  the  fifteenth  centuries 
this  is  evinced,  but  the  dissolution  of  monasteries  in  England  effected, 
among  other  revolutions,  a  vast  change  and  degradation  of  our  national 
architecture. 

Bath  Abbey  Church  is  mostly  of  a  protestant  age,  although  its 
design  is  monastic.  Hence,  we  clearly  perceive  in  its  execution  and 
detail,  a  palpable  contrast  to  the  splendid  and  gorgeous  Chapels  of 
King's  College  at  Cambridge,  and  Henry  the  Seventh's  at  Westminster ; 
both  the  works  of  Catholic  devotees,  and  raised  under  the  influence  of 
their  domination. 

This  Church  is  one  of  the  latest  examples  of  English  Ecclesiastical 
Architecture ;  it  having  been  founded  but  a  very  few  years  previously 
to  the  Dissolution,  and  not  completed  till  the  reign  of  James  the  First. 
Its  general  plan  accords  with  that  of  most  of  our  Cathedral  Churches ; 
but  there  are  many  peculiarities  in  its  arrangement  and  details  which 
distinguish  it  from  those  Buildings,  and  render  it  particularly  deserving 


X  PREFACE. 

of  graphic  and  descriptive  illustration.  The  circumstances  which  led  to 
its  erection  are  extremely  curious  :  —  The  mystic  Vision  of  Bishop  King 
did  not,  like  Shakspeare's  "  insubstantial  pageant  faded,"  resolve  itself 
into  "  thin  air,"  without  leaving  "  a  rack"  behind ;  for  the  whole  Church 
furnishes  a  signal  proof  of  the  powerful  impression  which  the  good 
Prelate's  Dream  had  made  upon  his  mind.  But  it  is  not  alone  the 
singular  circumstances  which  are  associated  with  its  modern  history  that 
give  celebrity  to  this  edifice ;  it  derives  additional  importance  from  its 
connexion  with  a  very  antient  Monastic  Establishment,  honoured  in  the 
Norman  Age  by  being  converted  into  a  Seat  of  Episcopacy,  and  re- 
markable during  many  subsequent  centuries  for  its  extent,  influence,  and 
splendour. 

By  referring  to  original  sources  for  information,  the  Author  has 
been  enabled  to  collect  and  embody  such  a  variety  of  interesting  and 
curious  facts  respecting  this  Building,  as  will  probably  both  surprise 
and  gratify  those  who  are  most  conversant  with  the  published  works 
on  the  same  subject.  On  another  account,  also,  this  Church  is  de- 
serving of  consideration ;  for  within  it  have  been  interred  many  persons 
of  talent  and  superior  attainments.  Of  the  most  eminent  of  those  so 
gifted,  succinct  Biographical  Memoirs  are  given ;  and  the  best  of  the 
Sepulchral  Inscriptions  which  crowd  the  walls  are  incorporated  in, 
and  form  the  elucidations  of,  an  Essay  on  the  various  Styles  and 
Classes  of  Epitaphs,  by  the  late  Rev.  J.  J.  Conybeare. 

The  mention  of  this  highly-gifted,  amiable,  and  accomplished  man 
and  scholar,  recalls  the  author  to  the  origin  of  this  work,  to  his  acquaint- 
ance with  that  gentleman,  and  to  other  associations  belonging  to  its  pro- 
gress and  execution.  Connected  with,  and  attached  to  Bath,  for  more 
than  thirty  years,  he  was  attracted  by  its  Abbey  Church  before  he  had 
seen  any  Cathedral,  except  that  of  the  metropolis,  and  after  having  been 
accidentally  induced  to  study,  and  consequently  admire,  the  Architectural 
Antiquities  of  England,  he  employed  an  artist  to  make  Drawings  of  the 
former  building.  Having  published  an  historical  and  illustrated  work 
on  the  famed  church  of  Redcliffe,  at  Bristol,  he  was  tempted  to  under- 
take  a  corresponding  volume    on  the  Abbey  Church  of  Bath.      This 


PREFACE.  XI 

has  been  preparing  for  more  than  ten  years,  and  is  at  length  respect- 
fully submitted  to  the  public.  Though  thus  long  in  progress,  it  is 
proper  to  observe,  that  the  whole  of  the  literary  part,  excepting  Mr. 
Conybeare's  essay,  has  been  written  during  the  year  1824;  and  its 
appearance  at  this  time  is  chiefly  owing  to  the  valuable  assistance  the 
author  has  experienced  from  his  old  friend  and  early  topographical 
associate,  Mr.  Brayley*.  Progressively,  almost  incessantly,  engaged 
in  public  and  private  offices  and  duties,  the  author  has  lately  found 
them  trespass  on  his  literary  pursuits,  engross  nearly  every  moment  of 
his  time,  injure  his  health,  and  abstract  him  from  much  of  that  friendly 
intercourse,  as  well  as  those  delightful  associations  with  art,  and  popular 
literature,   which  constitute   the   most  permanent  pleasures   of  human 

*  In  the  year  1799,  this  gentleman  and  the  author  commenced  the  Beauties  of  England 
and  Wales,  vainly  fancying  to  complete  such  a  work  in  six  volumes,  octavo.  It  imper- 
ceptibly extended  to  twenty-five  volumes;  thirteen  of  which  were  jointly  and  separately 
written  by  Messrs.  Brayley  and  Britton,  and  were  the  result  of  extensive  travelling,  cor- 
respondence, and  investigation.  The  other  volumes  were  beyond  their  control ;  and  for 
any  defects  in  them  they  cannot  be  deemed  responsible.  Knowing  that  the  county  of 
Somerset  has  been  very  imperfectly  treated  in  that  work,  the  author  is  induced  to 
make  this  statement  to  exonerate  the  original  authors,  who  have  been  deeply  engaged  in 
various  literary  works  from  that  time  to  the  present.  A  list  of  the  principal  of  his  own 
will  be  found  at  the  end  of  this  volume ;  and  he  cannot  think  it  irrelevant  to  notice  the 
following,  written  by  Mr.  Brayley,  viz. :  — 

1 .  "  The  History  and  Antiquities  of  the  Abbey  Church  of  St.  Peter,  Westminster ; 
including  Notices  and  Biographical  Memoirs  of  the  Abbots  and  Deans  of  that  Founda- 
tion," &c. :  illustrated  by  61  engravings,  from  drawings  by  J.  P.  Neale,  2  vols,  folio 
and  quarto. 

2.  Descriptions  to  accompany  a  Series  of  Views  in  Islington  and  Pentonville ;  from 
original  drawings,  by  Augustus  Pugin,  4to.     1818. 

3.  Lambeth  Palace,  illustrated  by  a  Series  of  Views,  representing  its  most  interesting 
Antiquities  in  Buildings,  Portraits,  Stained  Glass,  &c,  in  conjunction  with  W.  Herbert ; 
imperial  and  royal  quarto. 

4.  Popular  Pastimes  ;  quarto  and  octavo. 

5.  The  History  of  the  Isle  of  Thanet,  2  vols,  small  octavo. 

He  also  published  "  The  Works  of  the  late  Edward  Dayes ;"  the  topographical  part 
of  which  has  just  reappeared  from  the  press  of  Messrs.  Nichols  and  Son,  intituled,  "A 
Picturesque  Tour  through  the  principal  Parts  of  Yorkshire  and  Derbyshire;"  royal  octavo, 
1825:  2d  edition. 


Xll  PREFACE. 

life.  All  the  engagements  made  for  literary  works  *,  he  pledges  himself, 
shall,  if  health  permit,  be  scrupulously  and  conscientiously  fulfilled ;  and 
then  he  hopes  to  retreat  from  the  endless  solicitudes  which  accompany 
the  many  pleasures  belonging  to  "  the  life  of  an  author." 

At  the  time  of  concluding  this  volume,  he  has  finished  another, 
which  had  suffered  in  the  same  conflagration,  relating  chiefly  to  the 
Topography  of  North  Wiltshire,  in  which  the  ancient  monasteries 
of  Malmesbury  and  Lacock,  and  the  still  more  ancient  monument  at 
Avebury,  are  fully  described.  The  latter  work,  in  its  original  state, 
must  certainly  have  been  the  most  curious,  and  most  stupendous  of 
any  in  Britain. 

The  various  notes  of  reference,  which  will  be  found  in  this  volume, 
shew  that  it  has  not  been  hastily  nor  credulously  written:  for  every 
work  herein  quoted  and  referred  to,  has  been  carefully  examined  and 
compared.  In  addition  to  which  the  author  has  been  favoured  by  cor- 
rective remarks,  or  information,  from  the  following  persons,  to  whom 
he  now  offers  very  grateful  acknowledgments : — Sir  Benjamin  Hob- 
house,  Bart. ;  Doctors  Parry  and  Sherwin;  the  Rev.  Joseph  Hun- 
ter; the  Rev.  R.  Warner;  Messrs.  Braham,  Wiltshire,  Goodridge, 
Davies,  Barratt,  Crutwell,  Upham,  Godwin,  Windsor,  Collins, 
and  Mrs.  Thomas.  It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  name  the  late  Rev.  J.  J. 
Conybeare  and  Mr.  W.  Meyler;  for  the  personal  kindness  and  literary 
assistance  of  the  former  gentleman,  are  demonstrated  in  this  volume ;  and 
it  is  but  justice  to  the  memory  of  the  latter  to  say  that  he  was  uni- 
formly intelligent,  communicative,  and  kindly  disposed  towards  the  author 
upon  many  occasions,  as  he  was  to  most  literary  persons  who  had  the 
pleasure  of  being  once  introduced  to  him. 

J.  BRITTON, 
July  29,  1824. 

Burton  Street,  London. 


Revised,  January  15,  1825. 

#  The  following  are  in  different  stages  of  progress: — Histories  of  the  Cathedrals 
of  Exeter  and  Peterborough  —  a  Chronological  History,  &c.  of  Antient 
Ecclesiastical  Architecture — a  Dictionary  of  Architectural  Terms  of  the 
Middle  Ages — a  History  and  Illustration  of  Antient  Stone  Crosses. 


THE  HISTORY 


BATH   ABBEY   CHURCH. 


CHAPTER  I. 

ORIGIN  OF  BATH FABULOUS    ACCOUNT    OF    ITS  ANTIQUITY   AND    MAGNIFICENCE 

LEGEND    OF    BLADUD     AND     HIS     SWINE DISCOVERY    OF    THE     HOT    SPRINGS 

BRITISH    HISTORY    OF    BLADUD ETYMOLOGY   OF   THE  NAME    OF  BATH ROMAN 

OCCUPATION    OF  THAT    CITY  —  PARTICULARS  OF  THE    TEMPLE    OF    MINERVA,    ITS 
SITE  AND  REMAINS APOLOGY. 

Tradition  has  ascribed  the  origin  of  the  City  of  Bath  to  the  dis- 
covery of  its  salubrious  waters  by  Bladud,  the  son  of  Lud-Hudibras,  a 
British  king ;  who,  according  to  the  "  British  History,"  translated  by 
Geoffrey  of  Monmouth,  reigned  between  seven  and  eight  centuries  before 
the  Christian  era.  But  although  that  History  has  assigned  the  founding-of 
the  city  to  Bladud,  it  makes  no  mention  of  his  pigs,  through  which, 
according  to  other  authorities,  he  attained  a  knowledge  of  the  sanative 
virtues  of  its  springs !  —  The  whole  circumstances,  indeed,  connected  with 
this  portion  of  Bladud's  story,  are  so  romantic,  that  they  can  be  classed 
only  among  the  wildest  fictions  of  an  uncivilised  age. 

It  is  a  subject  much  to  be  regretted,  that  the  love  of  the  marvellous 
should,  even  in  minds  above  the  vulgar,  be  sometimes  so  predominant,  as 
to  betray  its  unreflecting  votaries  into  a  full  belief  in  legendary  absurdities, 
however  improbable  in  themselves,  or  however  opposed  to  rational  deduc- 
tions from  authenticated  history.  In  remote  ages  of  the  world,  when  learn- 
ing was  confined  to  a  few  persons,  superstition  and  ignorance  would  neces- 

B 


2  BATH  ABBEY  CHURCH. 

sarily  retard  the  spread  of  knowledge,  and  render  the  mind  weak  and  cre- 
dulous ;  but  in  more  enlightened  times,  we  cannot  but  wonder  at  the  cre- 
dulity of  those  whose  education  and  station  in  life  ought  to  keep  them  far 
above  giving  credence  to  vague  and  popular  traditions,  when  unsupported 
by  historical  testimony. 

These  remarks  will  not  appear  misplaced,  when  reference  is  made  to 
the  legend  of  Bladud  and  his  pigs,  and  to  that  extensive  credit  which  it  has 
received,  not  only  from  the  populace,  but  also  from  corporate  bodies,  and 
from  writers  of  scientific  pursuits  and  general  erudition.  Dr.  Jones,  a  Phy- 
sician, who  published  his  "  Bathes  of  Bathes  Ayde,"  in  the  time  of  Queen 
Elizabeth,  about  1572,  and  Wood,  an  Architect,  in  his  "  Description  of 
Bath,"  printed  in  the  early  part  of  the  reign  of  George  the  Third,  may  be 
especially  enumerated  in  the  latter  class.  So  fully,  indeed,  was  Dr.  Jones 
convinced  of  the  truth  of  Bladud's  history,  that  he  has  traced  his  genealogy 
up  to  Adam !  —  and  Wood,  whose  strong  passion  for  British  Archaeology 
induced  him  to  refer  every  thing  in  which  antiquity  was  concerned  to  Druid- 
ism,  has  given  such  a  particular  account  of  Bladud's  life  and  acquirements 
as  might  lead  one  to  imagine,  that  he  had  himself  been  honoured  with  his 
friendship !  It  may  not  be  uninteresting  to  insert  a  few  extracts  from  his 
Preface,  in  order  to  shew  the  credulous  weakness  of  his  understanding  on 
antiquarian  subjects. 

From  the  '  circumstances  which  he  has  collected,'  he  says  —  "  Bladud, 
the  British  Prince,  ninth  King  of  our  island,  in  the  time  of  Brute,  appears  to 
have  been  a  great  prophet,  and  the  most  eminent  philosopher  of  all  anti- 
quity. He  was  the  renowned  Hyperborean  high  priest  of  Apollo,  that  shined 
in  Greece  at  the  very  time  Pythagoras  flourished ;  and  among  the  Grecians 
he  bore  the  names  of  Aithrobates  and  Abaris  —  names  implying  the  exalted 
ideas  which  that  learned  race  of  people  had  of  his  great  abilities." — 

"  To  this  famous  prince,  priest,  and  prophet,"  he  continues,  "  the  city 
of  Bath  owes  her  original :  an  original  so  illustrious  that  no  city  upon  earth 
can  boast  of  a  greater,  since  with  it  the  Druids  of  the  western  world  seem 
manifestly  to  have  taken  their  rise.  Bath  was  not  only  the  summer  seat  of 
Apollo  himself,  but  the  place  where  the  British  Druids  worshipped  that  god 
with  greater  pomp  and  ceremony  than  he  appears  to  have  been  ever  honoured 
[with]  in  any  other  part  of  the  world. 

*'  The  chief  seat  of  Apollo  must  of  course  become  the  chief  seat  of  his 


LEGEND  OF  BLADUD.  3 

priests  ;  and  upon  that  consideration,  no  pains  have  been  wanting  to  collect 
such  things  as  are  necessary  to  prove  the  city  of  Bath  to  have  been  the 
metropolitan  seat  of  the  British  Druids;  whose  University  having  been 
founded  by  King  Bladud,  the  building  still  so  far  exists,  within  eight  miles 
of  our  hot  fountains,  as  to  prove  the  work  to  have  been  a  stupendous  figure 
of  the  Pythagorean  system  of  the  planetary  world.  It  is  a  monument  that 
Egypt  herself  might  boast  of  amidst  her  proudest  structures  ;  and  it  is  a 
monument  that  confirms  what  Caesar  says  of  the  Druids  in  respect  to  their 
astronomical  learning*." 

Another  extract  from  these  "  archaeological  visions,"  as  they  have  been 
justly  styled,  will  prove  what  extravagant  ideas  have  been  current  respecting 
the  original  foundation  and  extent  of  this  city.  "  Bath,  like  Alexandria,  was 
founded  for  the  capital  seat  of  a  famous  King ;  and  seems  to  have  consisted, 
from  the  very  first,  of  three  principal  parts,  whose  centres  were  widely 
detached  from  one  another.  The  most  material  part  of  the  three  lay  imme- 
diately round  about  the  hot  springs  :  the  next  in  degree  stood  eight  miles 
westward  from  them,  at  a  place  now  called  Stanton-drue ;  and  the  third 
lay  ten  computed  miles  south  of  the  second,  and  fifteen  of  the  same  miles 
southward  of  the  hot  fountains,  at  a  place  now  bearing  the  name  of  Okey: 
so  that  the  centres  of  the  three  principal  parts  of  the  city  formed  the  angles 
of  a  triangle  whose  base  line  extended  fifteen  computed  miles  in  length ; 
its  shorter  side  eight  of  the  same  miles ;  and  its  longer  side  ten  of  the  like 
miles  :  and  therefore,  the  magnitude  of  this  city,  in  its  ancient  state,  could  not 
have  been  less,  in  respect  to  the  land  of  its  whole  area,  than  that  of  Babylon 
when  Cyrus  took  it.  Now,  if  the  city  had  been  originally  surrounded  with 
a  wall,  Bath,  in  respect  to  her  private  buildings,  had  appeared  at  this  day 
what  Babylon  herself  once  wasf." 

The  substance  of  the  legend  relating  to  the  discovery  of  the  Bath  waters 
by  Bladud,  as  delivered  by  traditionary  fabulists,  is  this  : — 

Bladud,  when  a  young  man,  being  afflicted  with  leprosy,  was  banished  by 
Lud-Hudibras,  his  father,  from  the  British  court.     Before  his  departure  the 

*  The  monument  referred  to,  in  the  above  extract,  is  the  Bruidkal  Temple  at  Stanton  Drew  ; 
which,  whatever  it  might  have  been  originally,  is  now  reduced  to  a  few  detached,  upright,  and 
fallen  blocks  of  stone.     See  account  of  it  in  Saver's  "  Memoirs,  &c.  of  Bristol,"  4to.  vol.  i. 

t  "  Description  of  Bath,"  chap.  iv.  p.  41. 


4  BATH  ABBEY  CHURCH. 

Queen  gave  him  a  ring,  and  enjoined  him  to  preserve  it,  as  a  token  by  which 
he  might  be  recognised,  should  his  disease  be  ever  cured.  Soon  after  his 
exile,  the  Prince  exchanged  clothes  with  a  poor  shepherd,  and  became  the 
servant  of  a  Swineherd,  who  resided  near  the  present  Keynsham.  But  mis- 
fortune still  pursuing  him,  the  pigs  entrusted  to  his  care  caught  the  leprosy ; 
and  Bladud,  to  keep  this  disaster  from  his  master's  knowledge,  drove  them 
beyond  the  Avon,  which  he  crossed  at  Swinesford.  Whilst  addressing  the 
morning  sun,  and  soliciting  for  a  mitigation  of  Heaven's  wrath,  his  swine, 
as  though  seized  with  frenzy,  ran  wildly  up  the  valley,  and  plunged  into 
the  warm  and  oozy  bog,  which  at  that  time  covered  the  spot  where  the  sana- 
tive springs  of  Bath  emerge  from  their  boiling  fountains.  From  this  place 
Bladud  was  unable  to  get  them  away,  until  excessive  hunger,  and  the  power- 
ful attraction  of  a  bag  of  acorns,  which  he  shook  before  them,  overcame  their 
obstinacy. 

Having  fixed  on  a  convenient  place,  the  anxious  Prince  made  distinct 
crues,  or  pens,  for  all  his  swine,  concluding  that  by  keeping  them  separate 
and  clean,  the  infection  would  be  the  sooner  eradicated :  and  he  observed, 
though  without  adverting  to  the  cause,  that  some  of  the  herd,  on  being 
washed  from  the  filth  of  the  bog,  had  already  shed  their  leprous  scales. 
Shortly  afterwards,  he  lost  one  of  his  best  sows ;  but  after  a  week's  diligent 
search  he  accidentally  discovered  it,  wallowing,  with  apparent  gratification, 
amidst  the  hot  mire  about  the  springs.  On  washing  her,  it  appeared  that 
every  trace  of  the  distemper  was  removed  ! — 

The  result  may  be  readily  guessed.  Bladud  quickly  recovered  his  health, 
by  plunging  night  and  morning  into  the  sedge  and  balmy  waters ;  and 
his  pigs  were  equally  fortunate.  He  then  delivered  up  his  charge  to  the 
Swineherd,  and  returned  to  court,  where  he  soon  found  an  opportunity, 
whilst  his  parents  were  dining  in  public,  of  putting  his  ring  into  a  glass  of 
wine  intended  for  the  Queen ;  who,  on  perceiving  the  precious  token,  ex- 
claimed in  rapturous  accents,  "  Where  is  Bladud,  my  child  ?"  The  Prince, 
making  his  way  through  the  crowd,  prostrated  himself  at  her  feet,  and  was 
presently  known  and  acknowledged  as  the  heir  apparent  to  the  crown.  He 
could  not,  however,  be  prevailed  upon  to  disclose  by  what  means,  or  where, 
he  had  obtained  his  cure. 

When  the  rejoicings  for  his  recovery  were  over,  Bladud  went  into  Greece  ; 
and  fixing  on  Athens  for  the  chief  place  of  his  abode,  he  continued  eleven 


BRITISH  HISTORY  OF  BLADUD.  5 

years  abroad,  studying  philosophy,  necromancy,  and  mathematics.  After 
his  return  to  Britain,  and  the  decease  of  his  father,  he  ascended  the  throne, 
and  immediately  began  to  construct  cisterns,  or  baths,  about  the  hot  springs 
which  had  so  miraculously  contributed  to  his  cure :  he  also  built  a  palace 
near  the  baths,  and  founded  a  city  there,  to  which  he  removed  with  his  whole 
court ;  and  which,  under  the  appellation  of  Caer-bren,  became  the  principal 
seat  of  the  British  kings. — 

Such  is  the  legendary  origin  of  Bath ;  but  as  the  story  of  Bladud  admits 
of  some  amusing  additions,  a  few  passages  are  here  inserted  from  Thompson's 
translation  of  Monmouth's  "  British  History;" — Book  11,  p.  45*. 

On  the  decease  of  Lud-Hudibras,  "  his  son  Bladud  succeeded,  and  reigned 
twenty  years.  He  built  Kaerbadus,  now  Bath,  and  made  hot  baths  in  it  for 
the  benefit  of  the  Public  ;  which  he  dedicated  to  the  goddess  Minerva,  in  whose 
temple  he  kept  fires  that  never  went  out,  nor  consumed  to  ashes,  but  as  soon 
as  they  began  to  decay,  were  turned  into  balls  of  stone  f-  About  this  time 
the  prophet  Elias  prayed  that  it  might  not  rain  for  three  years  and  six 
months.  This  prince  was  a  very  ingenious  man,  and  taught  necromancy  in 
his  kingdom ;  nor  left  off  pursuing  his  magical  operations  till  he  attempted 
to  fly  to  the  upper  region  of  the  ah%  with  wings  he  had  prepared,  and  fell 
down  upon  the  temple  of  Apollo,  in  the  city  of  Trinovantum,  where  he  was 
dashed  to  pieces." 

In  the  rhyming  history  of  "  Unfortunate  Princes,"  written  by  Boccace, 

*  The  translator,  in  his  Preface,  argues  very  strongly  in  support  of  the  truth  of  the  original 
history,  as  well  as  of  the  fidelity  of  Geoffrey  of  Monmouth,  who  first  translated  it  into  Latin. 
Geoffrey's  veracity,  also,  has  been  ably  vindicated  by  the  late  Mr.  Ellis,  in  his  "  Specimens,  &c. 
of  English  Metrical  Romances ;"  and  the  Rev.  P.  Roberts,  A.M.  has  given  a  new  translation  of  the 
"  British  Chronicle "  from  the  "  Brut  Tysilio,"  collated  with  some  ancient  Welch  MSS.  Geoffrey 
was  deficient  in  the  latinizing  of  Welsh  names,  although  in  the  original  copies  they  exist  in  a 
regular  and  intelligible  form.  Hence  Rhun  Paladr-fras  (Rhun  of  the  thick  shaft)  has  been  cor- 
rupted into  Lud-Hudibras ;  and  Blaiddyd  his  son,  into  Bladud.  The  passage  relating  to  Bath,  in 
Roberts's  translation,  is  as  follows :— "  He  (Bladud)  built  Caervaddon,  and  formed  there  a  warm 
unguent  to  be  a  perpetual  remedy  for  the  diseased.  Moreover,  by  sacrificing  to  the  enchantress 
called  Minerva,  he  kindled  an  inextinguishable  fire  there :  which,  when  it  appeared  to  burn  out, 
rekindled  in  balls  of  fire."  In  a  note  to  this  passage,  the  author  states,  that  in  other  copies  the  word 
Dewines,  or  enchantress,  is  Duwies,  a. goddess. 

f  It  is  a  curious  fact,  that  every  thing  relating  to  Minerva  in  the  above  extract  is  derived  from  a 
passage  in  Solinus,  a  Roman  author  who  lived  about  the  middle  of  the  third  century  after  Christ, 
and  whose  testimony  will  be  more  particularly  referred  to  in  a  succeeding  page. 


6  BATH  ABBEY  CHURCH. 

who  lived  about  1450,  and  translated  by  Dan  Lidgate,  Bladud  is  made  to 
speak  thus : — 

"  Some  say,  I  made  the  holesom  Baths  at  Bath, 

And  made,  therefor,  two  burning  tuns  of  brass  ; 
And  other  twain,  seven  kinds  of  salts  that  have 

In  them  inclos'd ;  but  these  be  made  of  glass ; 

With  sulphur  fill'd,  wild-fire  emixt  there  was : 
And  in  four  wells  these  tuns,  so  placed,  heat,  for  aye, 
The  water  springing  up  before  it  pass  away. — 

"  I  must  confess,  by  learned  skill  I  found 

These  native  wells,  whence  springs  that  help  for  men  : 
But  well  thou  know'st,  there  runs  from  under  ground 
Springs  sweet,  salt,  cold,  and  hot,  even  now  as  then, 
From  rock,  saltpetre,  alum,  gravel,  fen ; 
From  sulphur,  iron,  lead,  gold,  silver,  brass,  and  tin, 
Each  fountain  takes  the  force  of  vein  it  coucheth  in. 


The  city  eke  of  Bathe  I  founded  there, 
Renowned  far  by  reason  of  the  Wells : 

And  many  monuments  that  ancient  were, 

I  placed  there,  thou  know'st  the  story  tells ;"  &c. 


Camden  briefly  passes  over  the  legend  of  Bladud ;  but  his  words  are 
sufficiently  pointed  to  evince  how  very  little  credit  he  considered  it  to  deserve. 
"  The  discovery,"  he  says,  "  of  these  baths,  our  fabulous  history  refers  to 
the  British  King  Bleyden  Cloyth,  that  is,  Bleyden  the  Magician,  with  what 
probability  let  others  determine.  Pliny  tells  us,  the  ancient  Britons  practised 
magic  with  so  many  ceremonies,  that  they  may  seem  to  have  taught  it  to  the 
Persians;  but  I  dare  not  refer  these  baths  to  magic  power*." 

In  Warner's  "  History  of  Bath,"  p.  11,  it  is  stated  inadvertently,  that 
"  the  story  of  Bladud  and  his  swine  was  firmly  believed  for  some  centuries, 
and  is  attested  in  the  works  of  almost  all  our  early  historians"  Unfortunately 
for  our  Bath  Historian  no  mention  of  Bladud's  pigs  has  been  made  by  any 
early  writer  of  established  authority,  without  adverting  to  the  absurdity  of 

*  Gough's  Edit,  of  the  "Britannia,"  vol.  i.  1789. 


TOM  coriat's  bladud.  7 

the  legend ;  and  not  three  of  our  ancient  chroniclers  can  be  named  who  have 
mentioned  it  at  all*. 

Bath,  according  to  Camden,  was  called  by  the  Britons  Yr  Ennaint 
Twymin,  which  H.  Lloydf  has  corrected  into  Caer  yn  nant  Twymin,  or  the 
City  in  the  warm  Vale;  but  no  antiquities  whatever,  that  can  with  propriety 
be  referred  to  that  nation,  have  ever  been  found  in  this  place.  On  the  con- 
trary, all  the  ancient  remains  which,  in  different  ages,  have  been  discovered 
here,  are  of  Roman  workmanship ;  and  its  coins,  altars,  sculptures,  baths, 
sudatories,  masonry,  and  inscriptions,  all  attest  its  long-continued  occupation 
by  the  Romans.  Its  appellations  of  T^ara  S-e^a,  Aqua  Calidai,  or  warm 
waters,  and  Aquce  Solis,  by  which  it  is  first  mentioned  in  authentic  history, 
prove  it,  equally,  to  have  been   of  Roman  origin;    and,   from  the   known 

*  The  legend  of  Bladud  was  formerly  inscribed  in  "  a  great  Table,"  which  was  long  affixed 
against  the  wall  in  the  King's  Bath,  but  which  was  removed  in  the  time  of  Charles  the  Second, 
in  consequence  of  the  keen  satire  of  the  witty  but  profligate  Rochester,  who  is  said  to  have 
made  the  citizens  ashamed  of  their  credulous  belief.  Tom  Coriat,  the  celebrated  peripatetic,  (that 
is,  if  Guidott,  in  this  instance,  has  not  assumed  his  name,  (see  the  "  Appendix"  to  his  Treatises 
concerning  Bath,)  has  very  whimsically  paraphrased  Bladud's  story  in  the  following  lines,  written 
in  the  "  Zomerzetzhire"  dialect. 

Lud  Hudibrass,  a  meazel  voule,  did  zend  his  zun  a  graezing, 

Who  vortuend  hither  vor  to  cum,  and  geed  his  pigs  zum  peazun ; 

Poor  Bladud  he  was  mangee  grown,  his  dad,  which  zum  call  vather, 

Zet  Bladud  pig,  and  pig  Bladud,  and  zo  they  ved  together. 

Then  Bladud  did  the  pigs  invect,  who,  grunting,  ran  away, 

And  vound  whot  waters  presently,  which  made  'em  vresb  and  gay. 

Bladud  was  not  so  grote  a  vool,  but  zeeing  what  pig  did  doe, 

He  beath'd  and  wash'd,  and  rins'd  and  beath'd,  from  noddle  down  to  toe. 

Bladud  was  now  (gramercy  pig !)  a  delicate  vine  boy ; 

So  whome  he  trudges  to  his  dad,  to  be  his  only  joy : 

And  then  he  built  this  gawdy  Town,  and  sheer'd  his  beard  spade-ways, 

Which  voke  accounted  then  a  grace,  though  not  so  now-a-days. 

Thwo  thowzand  and  vive  hundred  years,  and  thirty-vive  to  that, 

Zince  Bladud's  zwine  did  looze  their  greaze,  which  we  moderns  cal  vat. 

About  that  time,  it  was  alzo,  that  Ahob's  zuns  were  hang'd ; 

A  Jezabel,  their  mam  (curz'd  deel !)  caus'd  Naboth  to  be  stone-bang'd. 

Chee  cud  zay  more,  but  cham  aveard  voke  will  account  this  vable  — 

O,  Invidles !  if  ye  woon  not  me,  yet  chee  pray  believe  the  Table. 

t  Fragm.  "  Descr.  Brit.,"  p.  16.  8vo. 


8  BATH  ABBEY  CHURCH. 

partiality  of  the  Romans  for  warm  bathing*,  and  from  the  style  and  execution 
of  the  architectural  fragments  which  have  been  dug  up  in  this  city,  there 
can  be  little  doubt  but  that  it  was  one  of  their  principal  settlements  in  the  west. 
Ptolemy,  who,  in  his  Geography,  has  recorded  its  latitude  and  longitude  under 
the  first  of  the  above  names,  has  merely  noticed  it  as  one  of  the  principal 
towns  of  the  Belgae ;  both  Antoninus  and  Richard  of  Cirencester  mention  it 
in  their  respective  Itineraries,  under  the  name  of  Aqua  Solis. 

At  what  particular  time  the  Romans  established  their  residence  here  is 
uncertain ;  but  there  is  every  probability  that  it  was  as  early  as  the  reign 
of  Nero  (circa  A.D.  50) ; :  as  a  great  number  of  Roman  copper  and  brass 
coins  were  found  of  that  emperor  and  his  successors,  Trajan,  Adrian,  and 
the  Antonines,  on  digging  the  foundations  for  the  New  Hot  Bath  and  other 
works,  about  the  year  1776.  A  coin  of  Vespasian  has  also  been  found  here  ; 
as  well  as  other  coins  of  different  emperors  down  to  Valentinian  the  Second, 
who  reigned  in  A.D.  375  f. 

There  is  a  passage  in  SolinusJ,  in  which,  though  speaking  of  Britain 
generally,  he  must  be  understood  as  especially  referring  to  this  city,  except 
in  respect  to  the  rivers;  his  words  are  these: — "  In  quo  spatio  magna  et 
multa  flumina  sunt,  fontesque  calidi  opiparo  exculpti  apparatu  ad  usus  mor- 
talium ;  quibus  fontibus  praesul  est  Minervae  numen,  in  cujus  sede  perpetui 
ignes  numquam  canescunt  in  favillas,  sed,  ubi  ignis  tabuit,  vertitur  in  globos 
saxeos." — 

In  this  very  curious  extract  we  see  the  origin  of  that  notice  of  the 
temple  of  Minerva  and  its  perpetual  fires,  which  is  found  in  the  story  of 
Bladud ;  but,  however  remarkable  in  this  respect,  it  is  still  far  more  so, 
from  the  information  it  affords  in  regard  to  this  city  in  the  Roman  times. 
We  learn  from  it  that  the  Romans  had  not  only  formed  the  hot  springs  into 
elegant  baths  for  general  utility  and  accommodation,  but  likewise  that  they 
had  erected  a  temple  near  the  spot,  in  honour  of  the  goddess  Minerva,  whom 
they  considered  as  the  presiding  deity  over  the  springs,  and  on  whose  altar, 
as  in  the  temple  of  Vesta  at  Rome,  a  fire  was  perpetually  burning.  With 
these  particulars   is   connected   the    singular  intimation,    that  the   fires   on 

*  Boadicea,  in  her  address  to  the  goddess  Andraste,  when  on  the  eve  of  battle,  reproaches  the 
Romans  for  their  effeminacy  and  luxurious  habits;  and  particularly  for  their  custom  of  bathing 
in  warm  waters.     Vide  Dio.  1.  xii.  6. 

f  See  Guidott's  "  Treatises  relating  to  Bath,"  chap.  ix. 

X  Vide  "  Poly-histor."  cap.  xxv. 


TEMPLE  OF  MINERVA.  9 

Minerva's  altar  were  kept  burning  with  fossil  coal;  as  intimated  by  these 
words  of  Solinus,  "  the  perpetual  fires  never  wither  into  ashes,  but  when 
the  fire  is  deadened,  it  (the  fuel)  turns  into  stone  balls." 

The  late  Rev.  John  Whitaker,  who  in  his  review  of  Warner's  "  History 
of  Bath  *,"  has  taken  uncommon  pains  to  investigate  the  Roman  antiqui- 
ties of  this  city,  and  more  particularly,  as  to  every  circumstance  and  remain 
which  may  be  supposed  to  relate  to  the  temple  of  Minerva,  states  that  a 
species  of  coal  of  a  slack  or  powdery  kind,  is  dug  up  at  Newton,  about 
three  miles  from  Bath,  which  has  the  property  of  caking  or  soldering  into 
hard  masses ;  and  he  thence  infers,  that  the  Newton  coal  was  employed 
by  the  Romans  to  support  their  perennial  fires,  heref. 

An  opinion  has  been  very  generally  entertained,  that  the  present  Abbey 
Church  at  Bath  stands  on  the  site  of  the  ancient  temple  here  spoken  of; 
and  this  opinion  may  be  distinctly  traced  to  Camden's  time.  Dr.  Stukeley, 
in  the  year  1724,  says,  "  The  Cathedral  is  a  beautiful  pile :  here  they  sup- 
pose (with  probability)  stood  the  Roman  temple  of  Minerva,  patroness  of 
the  baths  J."  Dr.  Guidott,  in  1676,  speaking  of  Bath,  says: — "  There 
is  a  tradition  that  there  was  formerly  a  temple  dedicated  to  Minerva,  where 
now  the  Church  of  St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul,  commonly  called  the  Abbey 
Church,  stands  ||."  Camden  says,  "  Report  tells  us  there  anciently  existed 
a  temple  sacred  to  Minerva,  where  now  the  Cathedral  Church  is  § :"  and 
by  reciting  this  without  reproof,  he  implies  its  probability. 

Notwithstanding  the  respectable  tenour  of  these  authorities,  there  is  reason 
to  believe,  from  the  arguments  adduced  by  Whitaker,  that  the  tradition  was 
an  erroneous  one,  however  extensively  the  lapse  of  time  had  contributed  to 
its  strength  and  prevalence.  The  temple,  this  critic  affirms,  after  an  atten- 
tive examination  of  the  numerous  antiquities  which  have  been  discovered  on 
and  near  the  spot,  "  actually  stood  upon  the  western  half  of  the  present 
Pump-room,  ranging  along  the  eastern  side  of  Stall-street;"  and  he  pro- 
ceeds to  shew  that  it   was  converted  into  a  Christian   church,   and  under 


*  Vide  "  Anti-Jacobin  Review,"  vol.  x.  anno  1801. 

t  Ibid.  pp.  232,  233.  This  passage  in  Solinus,  says  Whitaker,  "  gives  us  the  very  first 
intimation  in  all  the  Roman  history,  even  the  only  intimation  in  the  whole  history  of  Britain, 
concerning  the  Roman  use  of  fossil  coals  in  Britain." 

|  "  Itinerarium  Curiosum,"  vol.  i.  p.  1 16. 

||  "  Briefe  Discourse,"  p.  8.  edit.  1659.  §  "  Britannia,"  vol.  i.  p.  61.  edit.  1789. 

c 


10  BATH  ABBEY  CHURCH. 

the  appellation  of  St.  Mary  de  Stalls  — "  the  niches  in  that,  namely,  the 
Temple,  being  denominated  stalls  in  this" — was  in  part  remaining,  though 
ruinous,  at  so  late  a  period  as  the  end  of  the  sixteenth  century.  This 
latter  conclusion  is  substantiated  by  a  Leiger-book  of  Bath  Abbey,  now  in 
the  possession  of  the  Marquis  of  Bath,  wherein  are  the  following  entries  :  — 

"  Hie  jacet  Alexander  de  Alneto,  et  Erneburva  uxor  ejus  et  Eulius  de 
Alneto  filius  eoru,  et  Lucia  de  Marissis  filia  eoru,  et  Jordanus  de  Marissis 
filius  ejusdem  Lucie,  et  Willelmus  de  Marissis  filius  ejusdem  Jordani." 

"  Est  istud  epitaphiu  sculptu  a  dextra  in  ostio  ruinosi  templi  quonda  Minerve 
dedicati  et  adhuc  in  loco  dicto  sese  studiosis  offerens.  1582.  7°  Decemb.  In 
Civit.  Bathon.*" 

Since  the  date  mentioned  in  the  latter  paragraph,  the  Church  of  Stalls 
has  been  utterly  desecrated ;  and  with  it,  as  a  building,  every  vestige  of  the 
ruined  temple  of  Minerva.  Among  the  antiquities,  however,  still  preserved 
in  Bath,  are  various  sculptural  remnants,  which  were  connected  with  the 
fane  of  that  goddess.  The  Gorgon  shield  for  the  portico  of  her  temple  is, 
for  the  most  part,  remaining,  together  with  different  fragments  of  the  entabla- 
ture f.  There  is,  also,  the  head  of  a  female  in  bronze,  which  Whitaker,  with 
much  probability,  conceives  to  be  that  of  Minerva  herself,  and  to  have 
belonged  to  her  statue  within  the  temple :  an  altar  to  Sulinis  Minerva,  that  is, 
the  Solar  Minerva,  or  Minerva  Medica ;  and  a  sepulchral  cippus  in  memory 
of  Caius  Calpurnius,  the  "  received  priest"  of  the  goddess. 

To  pursue  the  early  history  of  Bath  to  a  greater  extent,  is  foreign  to 
the  design  of  this  work ;  and  perhaps  some  apology  may  be  requisite  for 
having  entered  so  fully  both  into  the  legendary  and  the  rational  account  of 
its  origin,  as  has  been  done  in  these  pages.  But  as  the  subject  is  curious 
in  itself,  and  as  it  has  never  hitherto  been  placed  in  that  distinct  point 
of  view,  of  which  it  appeared  to  be  susceptible,  it  is  hoped  that  this 
attempt  to  extinguish  the  ignis-fatuus  of  tradition,  and  throw  a  clear  light 
on  the  foundation  of  so  distinguished  a  city,  will  receive  the  approbation 
of  the  candid  reader. 


*  Vide  Warner's  "  History  of  Bath,"  Appendix,  p.  48. 

f  See  Lysons'  "  Remains  of  two  Temples,  and  other  Roman  Antiquities  discovered  at  Bath," 
plate  iv.     In  plate  v.  of  the  same  work,  the  portico  is  represented  as  restored  from  existing  fragments. 


CHAPTER  II. 


BATH    UNDER    THE    SAXONS FOUNDATION    OF    A    NUNNERY,    AND    EARLY    HISTORY 

OF    THE    ABBEY     CHURCH EXPULSION     OF     THE     SECULAR     CLERGY ACCOUNT 

OF    ABBOT    ELPHEGUS SUCCESSION    OF    THE    ABBOTS CORONATION    OF    KING 

EDGAR SAINTLY     RELIQUES —  THE    CITY    AND    ITS    APPURTENANCES    GRANTED 

TO    THE    ABBEY    CHURCH ACCOUNT    OF   BISHOP    JOHN    DE  VILLULA REMOVAL 

OF    THE    EPISCOPAL    RESIDENCE   TO    BATH BISHOP    JOHN'S    MUNIFICENCE    AND 

GIFTS DISPUTES    CONCERNING    THE    EPISCOPAL    SEAT THE    TITLE    OF    BATH 

AND     WELLS     GIVEN     TO     THIS     BISHOPRIC ACCOUNT     OF     THE     BISHOPS     FITZ* 

JOCELINE  AND  SAVARIC ALSO    OF    JOCELINE    DE    WELLES,    AND    BISHOP    ROGER 

SUCCESSIVE  PRIORS  OF  BATH DISSOLUTION  OF  THE  MONASTERY LEARNED 

MONKS     OF    BATH INTRODUCTION     OF    THE    WEAVING     BUSINESS GRANTS    OF 

THE  MONASTIC  PROPERTY  BY  HENRY  VIII.  AND  EDWARD  VI. 


The  distractions  of  the  Roman  Empire  occasioned  the  Romans  to  withdraw 
their  troops  from  this  Island  at  the  commencement  of  the  fifth  century  ;  and 
as  the  flower  of  the  British  youth  had  already  been  abstracted  to  recruit  the 
armies  of  Rome,  the  Scots  and  Picts  embraced  the  opportunity  to  extend 
their  incursions  into  Britain,  and  to  plunder  and  destroy  its  defenceless 
natives  with  unrelenting  ferocity.  In  a  moment  of  despair  the  British  chief- 
tains invited  the  Saxons  to  their  aid ;  but  those  treacherous  allies  seized 
on  the  country  they  had  undertaken  to  defend,  and  after  many  arduous 
conflicts,  effectually  succeeded  in  establishing  their  dominion  here.  Before, 
however,  they  obtained  possession  of  Bath,  the  Saxon  hordes  are  stated  to 
have  been  twice  defeated,  with  immense  slaughter,  on  Mons  Badonicus, 
perhaps  Bannerdown,  in  its  immediate  vicinity,  by  the  British  King  Arthur, 
in  the  years  493  and  520.  They  proved  victorious,  however,  in  577,  when 
their  chiefs  Cuthwin,  and  Ceawlin  King  of  "Wessex,  defeated  the  British  kings 
Commail,  Condida,  and  Farinmail,  at  Dyrham,  about  eight  miles  distant, 
and   took  the   three   cities  of  Ba)an  ceaj-cep,   Cirencester,  and   Gloucester*. 

*  "  Saxon  Chron."  p.  26.  Ingram's  edit,  anno  1823. 


12  BATH  ABBEY  CHURCH. 

Under  the  sway  of  the  Saxons,  Bath  received  the  appropriate  names  of  Hat 
Bathun,  or  Bathum,  and  Acemannes-cestre,  or  the  Sick  Man's  City;  by  these 
appellations,  and  their  derivatives,  Balnea,  Badonia,  Badonessa,  Bathonia, 
Acamanni,  Achamanni,  and  Achumanensi,  it  is  subsequently  designated  in 
the  Saxon  and  Monkish  chronicles. 

After  the  subjugation  of  this  city  by  the  Saxons,  Osric,  King  or  Sub- 
regulus  of  the  Huiccii,  or  Wicci,  with  the  consent  of  Kentwin,  King  of 
Wessex,  founded  a  Nunnery  at  Bath  in  the  year  676*.  To  Bertana  the 
first  abbess,  he  granted  one  hundred  tenants  adjacent  to  the  place,  for  the 
purpose  of  raising  a  monastery  for  holy  virgins -f. 

To  Bernguida,  the  second  abbess,  forty  '  manentes,'  or  tenants,  in  Scepi, 
were  granted  by  Vighardus,  with  the  consent  of  Wlpher  king  of  MerciaJ; 
and  lands  were  given  to  the  same  abbess  by  "  one  Ethelmod,  a  great  man, 
by  the  leave  of  King  -ZEdelrede||." 

It  is  impossible  to  trace  the  vicissitudes  which  this  establishment  expe- 
rienced, or  to  identify  the  period  when  it  changed  its  original  destination. 
According  to  Tanner,  the  nunnery  being  destroyed  by  the  Danes,  King  Offa, 
about  the  year  775,  is  said  to  have  rebuilt  the  Church  of  St.  Peter,  and  to 
have  placed  secular  canons  therein  §.  Leland,  from  whom  this  account  seems 
to  have  been  adopted,  speaks,  in  his  "  Itinerary,"  with  considerable  dubiety 
regarding  Offa;  his  words  are  —  "  The  Prior  of  Bath  told  me  that  after  the 
Nunnes  tyme  ther  wer  Secular  Chanons  in  S.  Peter's  Chirch  at  Bath ;  para- 
venture  Offa,  King  of  Merches,  set  them  ther;  for  I  have  redde  that  Offa 
did  a  notable  Act  at  St.  Peter's,  in  Bath.  Or  els  the  Chanons  cam  yn  after 
that  the  Danes  had  racid  the  Nunry  thereby."  That  the  Nunnery  was  not 
destroyed  by  the  latter,  prior  to  775,  is  evident  from  the  "  Saxon  Chronicle," 
which  states,  that  the  first  appearance  of  the  Danes  on  the  English  coast 


*  Leland,  "  Collectanea,"  vol.  i.  p.  80.     "  Itinerary,"  vol.  ii.  fol.  38. 

f  Dugdale's  "  Monasticon,"  new  edition,  vol.  ii.  p.  264. 

t  Warner's  "  History  of  Bath,"  App.  II. 

||  See  "  Itinerary,"  ibid.  §  "  Notitia  Monastica." 

IT  "  Itin."  vol.  ii.  fol.  38.  In  a  preceding  passage,  Leland  says, — "  The  Book  of  thantiquite 
of  the  Abbay  of  Bath  raakith  no  great  mention  of  any  great  notable  Doyng  of  Offa,  king  of  the 
Merches,  at  Bathe."  It  is  probable  that  the  Book  thus  referred  to  by  Leland,  is  the  Manuscript, 
No.  CXI.  now  preserved  in  Bibl.  Corp.  Christ.  Coll.  at  Cambridge ;  and  from  which  Warner  has 
printed  several  grants,  &c,  in  his  Appendix  to  the  "  History  of  Bath." 


BY  WHOM  FOUNDED.  13 

was  in  787  ;  and  their  devastations  were  then  confined  to  the  northern  parts  of 
Britain. 

In  his  "  Collectanea,"  Leland  says  expressly,  that  the  Church  of  Bath 
was  founded  by  OfFa  * ;  yet  there  is  no  such  foundation  mentioned  by 
Matthew  Paris,  in  his  life  of  that  sovereign,  nor  does  Leland  refer  to  any 
authority  for  his  affirmation.  We  find,  however,  from  Hemming's  "  Chartu- 
lary,"  that  Heathored,  Bishop  of  Worcester,  assigned  to  King  OfFa,  (who  had 
conquered  Wessex,  and  annexed  it  to  his  Mercian  dominions,)  the  monastery 
of  Bath,  with  thirty  cassates  of  land  on  the  south  side  of  the  river  Eafen 
(Avon),  in  compensation  for  certain  lands  belonging  to  King  Ethelbald,  which 
the  Bishop  had  detained  |.  The  monastery  thus  assigned  to  OfFa,  was,  doubt- 
less, that  which  Osric  had  founded ;  but  whether  the  nuns  had  been  pre- 
viously ejected,  or  were  then  displaced  by  the  King,  to  make  room  for 
secular  canons,  it  is  impossible  to  ascertain. 

Camden,  after  speaking  of  the  nunnery,  says,  "  King  OfFa  built  another 
church;  both  were  destroyed  in  the  Danish  wars."  "  From  their  ruins," 
he  adds,  "  afterwards  arose  a  new  Church,  dedicated  to  St.  Peter,  in  which 
Edgar  the  Peaceable  was  crowned  J."  This  passage  has  given  rise  to  some 
strong  assumptions,  although  its  strict  verity  is  very  questionable.  Wood  has 
fixed  on  the  year  878,  when  King  Alfred  retired  to  Athelney,  for  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  church  by  the  Danes  || ;  and  Warner,  more  indefinite  as  to  time, 
but  more  precise  as  to  circumstances,  tells  us,  that  "  the  splendour  of  Offa's 
monastery  terminated  in  the  middle  of  the  ninth  century,  when  it  fell  into  the 
hands  of  the  Danes  ;  and  to  the  horrible  excesses  of  these  savages  the  monas- 
tery was  exposed,  its  inmates  probably  slaughtered,  and  the  building  reduced 
to  ruins  §."  Notwithstanding  this  particularity,  there  is  no  valid  historical 
document  by  which  it  can  be  corroborated ;  nor  is  it  certain  that  the  Danes 
had  ever  obtained  possession  of  Bath  at  the  period  spoken  of.  Had  the 
whole  of  Wessex  been  conquered  by  them  at  the  time  of  Alfred's  mysterious 
retirement,  this  city  must  of  course  have  submitted  to  their  power,  and  been 
exposed  to  their  ravages ;  but  we  know  that  Wiltshire,  Hampshire,  and  Somer- 
setshire, are  celebrated  for  their  resistance  to  the  Danes,  and  that  the  brave 

*  Ecclesia  Bathoniensis  ab  OfFa  rege  fundata  est.  —  "  Collectanea,"  vol.  ii.  p.  26.  edit.  1774. 
f  Hemming's  "  Chartulary,"  pp.  224,  225 ;  and  "  Mon.  Ang."  vol.  i.  p.  568  :  new  edit. 
J  "  Britannia,"  vol.  i.  p.  62.  edit.  1789.     "  Malmesbury,"  says  Gough,  "  expressly  intimates, 
that  Edgar  was  crowned  in  the  church  built  by  OfFa."    Gest.  Pont.  ii.  144.  c. 

||  "  Description  of  Bath,"  vol.  i.  p.  183.  §  "  History  of  Bath,"  p.  100. 


14  BATH  ABBEY  CHURCH. 

inhabitants  of  those  counties  composed  the  army  with  which  Alfred  com- 
pletely defeated  the  invaders  at  Edington,  in  Wiltshire  *. 

King  Athelstan,  in*  931,  '  granted  to  Almighty  God  and  St.  Peter,  and 
the  venerable  family  established  in  the  celebrated  place,  called  by  the  country 
people,  JEt  Bathum,  &c,  ten  manses  in  Pristan,  and  five  in  iEstun,  &c, 
on  condition  that  they  should  daily  offer  for  him  to  God,  most  salutary  masses 
and  harmonious  modulations  of  psalms ;  and  incessantly  fight  for  him  with 
spiritual  arms  against  invisible  enemies  f.'  Leland  says  that,  being  in  the 
library  at  Bath,  he  saw  several  books,  not  unlearned,  and  very  ancient,  which 
were  presented  by  Athelstan,  the  Anglo-Saxon  King,  to  the  monks ;  one  of 
which,  De  Synodis  Pontificiis,  he  removed  to  the  library  of  Henry  VIII.  £ 

In  the  year  956,  King  Edwy  granted  to  the  monastery  of  St.  Peter, 
"  quod  situm  est  in  Bathonia  ubi  terme  amene  calidis  e  fontibus  dirivan- 
tur,"  thirty  mansions  (mansas)  at  Dyddenham,  in  perpetual  fee ;  and  in  the 
following  year  he  gave  ten  mansions  "  at  For  da,"  (Bathford)  to  the  same 
monastery,—"  quod  in  Bathonia  mira  fabrica  constructum  cognoscitur."  In 
both  grants  Wulfgar  is  named  as  presiding  over  this  establishment  || ;  the 
possessions  of  which  were  further  increased  by  different  Saxon  kings,  and 
particularly  by  Edgar,  in  the  years  965  and  970.  JEscwig  is  mentioned  as 
abbot  in  both  Edgar's  grants ;  and  St.  Peter's  church  described  as  being- 
situated  "  in  urbe  Achumanensi,"  and  "  cet  Hatum  Bathum." 

About  this  period  an  important  change  was  effected  in  the  state  of  this 
foundation,  through  the  influence  of  the  Papal  See,  and  the  active  bigotry 
of  Archbishop  Dunstan,  and  the  Bishops  Oswald,  of  Worcester,  and  Ethel- 
wald,  of  Winchester.  The  church  of  Rome,  finding  the  Monks  more  com- 
pletely devoted  to  its  ambitious  purposes  than  the  Secular  Clergy,  exerted 
the  most  strenuous  efforts  to  expel  the  latter  from  their  establishments,  and 

*  The  invasion  of  Wessex,  the  retirement  of  Alfred,  and  the  final  defeat  of  the  Danes,  all 
happened  in  the  year  878 ;  and  although,  previously  to  their  defeat,  the  Danes  were  in  great  force 
at  Chippenham,  and  ravaged  the  adjacent  country,  we  have  no  proof  of  their  having  been  at  Bath  : 
that  city  was  probably  fortified  against  their  attacks.  In  the  account  of  Wiltshire,  "  Beauties  of 
England,"  vol.  xv.  is  a  review  of  the  opinions  and  statements  of  different  authors,  on  the  much- 
disputed  site  of  Alfred's  decisive  defeat  of  the  Danes  at  "  iEthandune." 

t  Warner's  History,  App.  No.  III.  Ex  Cod.  MS.  Bibl.  C.  C.  C.  Cant.  61. 

I  Fabricii  Bibl.  Med.  ii.  39.  The  King  is  said  to  have  been  the  author  of  these  books,  upon  the 
direct  authority  of  William  of  Malmesbury.     Ibid. 

||  Vide  Warner's  "  Hist."  App.  Nos.  IV.  and  V.  Wulfgar  was  to  retain  three  cottages  ibr  his 
own  exclusive  use  out  of  the  estate  at  Dyddenham. 


ACCOUNT  OF  ABBOT  ELPHEGE.  15 

supply  their  places  by  the  former.  These  measures  were  most  zealously 
supported  by  King  Edgar,  at  the  instigation  of  the  bold  and  unprincipled 
Dunstan ;  and  among  the  other  victims  of  this  crafty  policy,  were  the  canons 
of  Bath,  who  were  ejected,  according  to  Tanner  and  other  writers,  about  the 
year  970,  and  a  convent  of  Benedictine  monks  was  introduced  in  their  stead. 

Elphegus,  or  Elpkege,  a  monk  of  Deerhurst,  who  was  eventually  raised  to 
the  See  of  Canterbury,  is  reputed  to  have  been  the  first  abbot  of  Bath  after 
the  expulsion  of  the  seculars*.  He  was  born  at  Weston,  probably  near 
Bath ;  and,  according  to  Gervase  of  Canterbury,  was  of  a  good  family. 
Osbern  saysf,  that  dreading  the  resistance  of  his  mother  to  his  becoming 
a  monk,  he  prayed  to  God  to  point  out  his  destiny,  which  being  done 
by  Divine  means,  he  relinquished  his  paternal  inheritance,  and  was  professed 
in  the  priory  of  Deerhurst ;  but  not  finding  the  regimen  there  strict  enough, 
he  became  prior  of  Glastonbury,  and  thence  abbot  of  Bath ;  where  he  built 
a  house  for  himself  to  reside  in  as  an  anchoret.  The  nobility  flocked  to 
him  for  spiritual  advice,  and  loaded  him  with  presents.  Many  persons, 
also,  took  a  religious  habit  under  him,  whom,  when  he  had  completed  a  very 
large  dwelling,  through  various  benefactions,  he  placed  under  a  rule  of  disci- 
pline; and  having  appointed  a  proper  superintendent  to  supply  them  with  food, 
betook  himself  to  a  very  small  house,  whither  the  monks  resorted  to  him  for 
instructions  and  orders  in  all  business  of  consequence.  The  Golden  Legend 
states,  that  "  he  bylded  there  that  fayr  abbacy  at  Bath,  and  endowed  it ; 
and  was  himself  therein  the  fyrst  abbot  and  founder  J."  Elphege  succeeded 
St.  Birstan  in  the  bishopric  of  Wilton,  and  was  translated  to  Winchester  in 
984.  In  1004,  according  to  Ralph  de  Diceto,  or,  as  Simeon  of  Durham 
says,  in  1006,  he  was  advanced  to  the  See  of  Canterbury.  He  was  massacred 
by  the  Danes,  at  Greenwich,  when  fifty-nine  years  old,  on  the  13th  of  the 
kalends  of  May,  1012 1|. 

During  the  government  of  Elphege,  king  Edgar  was  crowned,  or,  in  Saxon 

*  In  the  two  grants  made  by  Edgar,  as  mentioned  above,  in  965  and  970,  iEscwig  is  expressly 
called  abbot;  but  that  appellation  does  not  appear,  from  any  former  grants,  to  have  been  ever 
before  borne  by  the  superior  of  this  establishment.  Now,  as  we  know  from  the  Saxon  Chronicle, 
that  Edgar  expelled  the  religious  from  several  churches  in  965,  and  replaced  them  with  monks, 
may  it  not  be  assumed,  with  probability,  that  he  ejected  the  seculars  from  Bath  at  the  same  period ; 
and  that  iEscwig  was  in  reality  the  first  abbot  on  the  new  foundation  ? 

t  "  De  Vita  S.  Elphegi,"  in  "  Anglia  Sacra,"  pars  ii. 

X  Ed.  Jul.  Notary,  fol.  lxxv,  [|  "  Anglia  Sacra,"  pars  i.  p.  105. 


16  BATH  ABBEY  CHURCH. 

phraseology,  "  hallowed  to  king*,"  with  much  pomp,  in  Bath  church,  viz.  on 
Whitsunday,  (May  11th,)  anno  973.  "  Mickle  bliss,"  says  the  Saxon  Chro- 
nicle, "  was  enjoyed  at  Bath,  on  that  happy  day;"  when  "  a  crowd  of  priests, 
a  throng  of  monks,  in  counsel  sage,  were  gathered  there  -|\"  William  of 
Malmesbury,  speaking  of  Edgar,  says,  —  "  From  the  16th  of  his  years,  when 
he  was  appointed  King,  till  the  30th,  he  reigned  without  the  insignia  of 
royalty ;  but  at  that  time,  the  princes  and  men  of  every  order  assembling 
generally,  he  was  crowned  with  great  pomp  at  Bath."  The  same  author 
(in  his  Gest.  Pont.  lib.  ii.  Episc.  Wellens.)  states,  that  Edgar,  "  delighted 
with  the  magnificence  of  the  place,  as  well  as  because  he  was  crowned  there, 
had  enlarged  the  abbey  J." 

Very  little  is  known  of  this  church  from  the  promotion  of  Abbot  Elphege 
till  after  the  Norman  Invasion  ||.  Leland,  but  without  specifying  any  distinct 
period,  says,  "  Alpharus,  Erl  of  Merch,  that  was  a  scurge  of  Monkes,  expellid 
them  for  a  tyme."  In  the  Domesday  Book,  Vlward  is  mentioned  as  being 
abbot  in  Edward  the  Confessor's  reign.  His  successor  was  Stigand,  a  friend 
and  favourite  of  William  the  Conqueror,  whom  he  accompanied  into  Nor- 
mandy, where  Stigand  soon  after  died.  Wlfwold  and  jElfsig  next  occur,  as 
joint  abbots,  in  a  lease  of  lands  and  cattle  made  by  the  whole  convent  of  Bath 
to  William  Hosett,  on  condition  that  he  should  serve  in  war  at  the  king's 
summons,  and  pay  the  king's  tallage  §.  During  the  supremacy  of  iElfsig, 
or  Aldsius,  as  he  is  sometimes  called,  and  who  died  in  1087,  several  manu- 
missions were   made  of  Villani,   or  Villains,  belonging  to  the  lands  of  this 


*  "  to  cynje  gehalgob."     "  Saxon  Chron."  by  Ingram,  p.  158. 

\  Ibid.  p.  159  ;  from  a  sort  of  ode  on  the  solemnity.  In  commemoration  of  that  event,  and  of 
the  favours  bestowed  by  Edgar  on  the  town  and  monastery,  a  statue  of  that  King  was  erected  in 
front  of  the  Guildhall.  Leland,  in  the  second  volume  of  bis  "  Itinerary,  p.  39,  says  that,  in  his 
time,  the  inhabitants  continued  the  custom  of  electing  yearly,  on  Whitsunday,  a  King  among 
themselves,  in  joyful  remembrance  of  Edgar,  and  that  the  richest  men  of  the  town  made  it  a 
rule  to  feast  their  monarch  with  all  his  attendants.  From  this  practice,  probably,  originated 
the  title  of  King  of  Bath,  bestowed  on  Beau  Nash  and  some  of  his  successors  in  the  office  of 
Master  of  the  Ceremonies. 

X  "  Monasterium  Batoniense  rex  Offa  construxit,  quod  post  rex  Edgarus,  sicut  alia  monasteria, 
reparavit."     MS.  in  Bibl.  Cott.  Vitell.  E.  xii. 

||  We  learn  from  the  "  Saxon  Chronicle,"  that  the  Danish  king  Sweyne  took  possession  of  Bath 
in  1013,  and  that  Alderman  Ethelmar,  and  all  the  western  thanes,  submitted  to  him  there,  and  gave 
him  hostages. 

§  "  Dug.  Mon."  vol.  ii.  p.  265 :  new  edit. 


RELICS.  17 

monastery*.  In  his  time,  also,  the  Domesday  Survey  was  taken;  from 
which  record  it  appears  that  this  Church,  independently  of  its  other  posses- 
sions in  Somersetshire  and  Gloucestershire,  had  belonging  to  it,  in  Bath, 
twenty-four  burgesses,  who  paid  twenty  shillings,  a  mill  which  produced  the 
like  sum,  and  twelve  acres  of  meadow.  The  total  amount  of  its  revenues  in 
Edward  the  Confessor's  reign,  was  47/.  3*.  6d.  ;  in  the  Conqueror's  time, 
they  had  risen  to  71/.  13*.  Qd. 

It  appears  from  the  Corpus  Christi  manuscript,  that  Bath  Abbey,  about 
this  period,  possessed  a  very  abundant  collection  of  Relics — those  estimable 
treasures,  by  which  Catholicism  partly  upholds  her  power,  and  engrafts  the 
very  essence  of  absurd  belief  on  the  superstitious  minds  of  her  weak  votaries. 
The  following  articles,  with  many  others,  are  enumerated  in  the  lists  of  this 
"  precious"  assemblage  : — the  bones  of  St.  Peter,  and  part  of  the  garment  of 
our  Lord ;  the  heads  of  St.  Bartholomew,  St.  Lawrence,  and  St.  Pancras ; 
the  knee  of  St.  Maurice,  the  Martyr ;  the  ribs  of  St.  Barnabas ;  the  arm  of 
St.  Simeon  ;  fragments  of  St.  Margaret,  the  Virgin ;  part  of  the  Holy  cross  and 
napkin ;  the  vest  of  Christ ;  the  clean  cloth  in  which  our  Lord's  body  was 
wrapped;  the  hair  and  some  of  the  milk  of  the  Virgin  Mary;  fragments  of 
her  dress;  part  of  the  pillar  to  which  Christ  was  bound;  part  of  the  cross 
of  St.  Andrew ;  part  of  our  Lord's  sepulchre ;  remains  of  St.  John  Baptist, 
and  some  of  his  blood ;  of  the  sponge  and  sandals  of  Christ ;  stone  from  the 
fountain  at  Siloa ;  part  of  the  back  of  St.  Samson ;  and  some  of  the  hair 
of  Mary  Magdalene ! 

According  to  the  "  Saxon  Chronicle,"  Bath  and  all  the  adjacent  country 
was  plundered,  in  the  year  1088,  by  Gosfrith,  Bishop  of  Coutances,  and 
Robert  the  Peacebreakerf  ;  who  had  joined  the  conspiracy  of  Bishop  Odo  and 
others,  against  William  Rufus,  in  support  of  the  claims  to  the  crown  made 
by  Robert,  Duke  of  Normandy,  his  elder  brother.  Warner  states,  that  the 
monastery  here  was  f  totally  burned  down,"  in  the  insurrection ;  yet  there 


*  "  Dug.  Mon."  vol.  ii.  p.  265 :  new  edit.  See  also  Madoxii  Formul.  Anglic,  p.  416.  The  original 
documents,  in  the  Saxon  language,  are  in  the  Corpus  Christi  MS.  before  referred  to.  These 
documents  throw  much  light  on  the  servile  state  of  the  lower  classes  at  the  time  when  the 
enfranchisements  were  granted.  Alfsius,  or  Elsi,  abbot  of  Bath,  is  noticed  by  Florence  of 
Worcester  as  being  present  at  the  Synod  of  London,  in  1075 ;  he  was  also  present  at  the  Council 
of  London,  held  in  1082. 

t  Probably  Robert  de  Mowbray,  the  bishop's  nephew. 

D 


18  BATH  ABBEY  CHURCH. 

does  not  appear  to  be  any  valid  authority  to  warrant  his  statement.  About 
that  period,  however,  a  great  change  took  place  in  respect  to  this  establish- 
ment, which  appears  to  have  been  seized  by  the  King,  in  order  to  grant  it, 
with  all  its  appurtenances,  to  John  de  Villula,  Bishop  of  Wells,  his  chaplain, 
in  augmentation  of  the  See  of  Somersetshire,  and  for  the  purpose  of  trans- 
ferring the  episcopal  seat  to  Bath*. 

This  Bishop,  who  was  both  a  native  and  a  priest  of  Tours,  in  France, 
and  thence  also  called  Johannes  Turonensis,  was  a  physician ;  and  is  conjec- 
tured by  Wharton  to  have  purchased  the  See  of  Wells  with  the  profits  of 
his  profession;  for  simoniacal  practices  had  been  traced  to  him  in  other 
respects-!".  He  succeeded  Giso'  in  the  above  See,  anno  1088,  in  which 
year  the  gift  of  Bath  Abbey  is,  in  the  register  of  Wells,  said  to  have  been 
made  to  him  J ;  but  the  charter  of  William  Rufus,  by  which  the  abbey 
was  given  to  Bishop  John,  bears  date  on  the  6th  of  the  Kalends  of  Feb. 
1090-91 1| .  About  the  same  time,  by  another  charter,  he  granted  "  to  God, 
and  St.  Peter  in  Bath,  and  to  John  the  Bishop  and  his  successors,  the  whole 
of  the  city  of  Bath,  in  free  alms,  with  all  its  appurtenances,  to  hold  and 
possess  in  as  free  and  honourable  a  manner  as  he  himself  held  any  city  in 
England,  together  with  its  mint  and  all  the  accustomed  rights,  both  within 
and  without  the  same,  with  the  toll-money  arising  as  well  in  the  fields  as 
the  woods,  as  well  in  the  market  as  the  meadows  and  other  lands,  that  with 
the  greater  honour  he  may  fix  his  pontifical  seat  there  §." 

The  Canon  of  Wells,  whose  history  of  the  Bishops  of  this  See  has  been 
published  in  the  "  Anglia  Sacra,"  says  that  John  de  Tours,  or  Villula, 
purchased  the  city  of  Bath  from  William  Rufus  and  his  successors,  for  500 
marks  of  silver.     He  states,  too,  that  that  prelate,  besides  removing  the  see 


*  William  of  Malmesbury  says,  in  his  "  Gest.  Pont."  lib.  ii.  Episc.  Wellens.  — "  Cum  ver6 
ijs  successisset  Joannes,  natione  Turonicus,  professione  medicus,  qui  non  minimum  qusestum  illo 
conflaverat  artificio,  minoris  gloria  putans  si  in  villa  resideret  inglorius,  transferee  thronum  in 
Bathoniam  animo  intendit.  Sed  cum  id  inaniter  vivente  Willielmo  patre  seniore  cogitasset,  tem- 
pore Willielmi  filij  effecit." 

f  Wharton's  note  in  "  Anglia  Sacra,"  pal's  i.  p.  559.  John  de  Villula  is  reported  to  have  prac- 
tised physic  at  Bath ;  and  his  effigy  is  said  to  have  been  sculptured  in  alto-relievo  on  an  ancient 
stone,  now  defaced  and  broken,  fixed  up  in  the  wall  of  an  ordinary  house  opposite  Walcot  church. 
Vide  Warner's  "  Hist,  of  Bath,"  p.  63. 

%  "  Anglia  Sacra,"  pars  i.  560. 

||  See  Appendix  to  this  Volume,  No.  I.  §  Ibid.  No.  II. 


GRANTS  OF  HENRY  I.  19 

from  Wells  to  Bath,  transferred  also  the  revenues  belonging  to  the  abbatial 
table  of  the  monastery  to  his  own  episcopal  table,  and  caused  himself  to 
be  called  Bishop  of  Bath*.  Ralph  de  Diceto  places  the  removal  of  the 
episcopal  seat  in  the  year  109 If ;  but  Rudborne  and  Matthew  Paris  have 
both  assigned  it  to  the  year  1092 :  Rudborne  says,  by  "  bribery  to  the 
King;"  and  Paris,  more  covertly,  though  with  similar  implication,  "  through 
anointing  the  Kings  hand  with  white  ointment^." 

Henry  the  First,  by  three  different  charters,  granted  in  the  early  part  of 
his  reign,  confirmed  and  extended  the  privileges  thus  obtained  by  Bishop 
John ;  and,  in  addition  to  the  grant  of  Rufus,  gave  to  that  prelate  and  his 
successors,  "  the  hidage  or  Danegeld,  hitherto  exacted  of  the  borough,  after 
the  rate  of  the  twenty  hides  at  which  it  had  been  assessed  from  the  reign 
of  Edward  the  Confessor,  together  with  all  pleas  and  other  judicial  rights  and 
privileges."  He  also  exempted  the  monks  and  their  possessions  from  all  civil 
jurisdiction,  except  in  cases  of  murder  and  robbery. 

Leland  says,  — "  This  John  pullid  down  the  old  Chirch  of  St.  Peter  at 
Bath,  and  erectid  a  new  [Church],  much  fairer,  and  was  buried  in  the  middle 
of  the  Presbyteri  thereof,  whos  Image  I  saw  lying  there  an  9.  Yere  sins,  at 
the  which  tyme  al  the  Chirch  that  he  made  lay  to  wast,  and  was  onrofid, 
and  wedes  grew  about  this  John  of  Tours  sepulchre||."  The  Canon  of  Wells 
and  William  of  Malmesbury  both  state,  that  he  built  the  church  from  the 
foundations ;  and  the  latter  adds,  "  with  a  great  and  elaborate  circuit  of 
walls§."  He  also  gives  the  following  character  of  the  Bishop:  "John  easily 
obtained  the  abbey  from  the  King,  and  at  first  behaved  harshly  to  the  monks, 
because  they  were  stupid,  and,  in  his  opinion,  barbarians ;  taking  away  the 
lands  allowed  for  their  subsistence,  and  only  dispensing  to  them  scanty 
pittances  by  his  own  lay  servants.  Being  latterly  much  altered,  he  treated 
the  monks  with  more  kindness,  and  allowed  the  prior  some  lands  for  better 
support  of  the  society,   and  hospitality.      He   began   and   completed  many 


•  "  Anglia  Sacra,"  pars  i.  560. 

f  Abbrev.  "  Chron."  auctore  R.  de  Diceto,  col.  490. 

X  "  M.XCII.  Eodem  anno,  Johannes  Wellensis  praesul,  natione  Turonicus,  consensu  Willielmi 
Regis,  albo  unguento  manibus  ejus  delibatis,  transtulit  in  Bathoniam,  sui  cathedram  preesulatus." 
"  Hist.  Angl."  p.  17.  a  Watts. 

||  "  Itinerary,"  vol.  ii.  fol.  39. 

§  "  Sepultus  est  in  ecclesia  S.  Petri,  quam  a  fundamentis  erexerat  magno  et  elaborato  parietii 
ambitu."    "  Gest.  Pont."  lib.  ii.  Episc.  Wellens. 


20  BATH  ABBEY  CHURCH. 

things  nobly  in  ornaments  and  books,  and  filled  the  abbey  with  monks  eminent 
for  literature  and  discharge  of  their  duties.  According  to  report,  his  medical 
knowledge  was  founded  more  upon  practice  than  science.  He  enjoyed 
literary  society,  but  indulged  in  sarcasm  more  than  was  fitted  to  his  rank. 
He  was  a  wealthy  man,  and  of  liberal  habits ;  but  could  not  be  induced, 
even  on  his  death-bed,  wholly  to  restore  their  lands  to  the  monks*." 

In  the  latter  assertion,  Malmesbury  is  completely  in  error,  as  may  be 
seen  by  the  deed  or  charter  which  this  Bishop  solemnly  granted  to  the 
monks  in  the  year  1106,  in  the  presence  of  numerous  witnesses.  By  that 
instrument,  he  not  only  restored  to  the  monks  all  the  lands  which  they  had 
formerly  possessed,  but  he  also  gave  them  several  estates,  and  other  pro- 
perty of  various  descriptions.  The  rents,  or  issues,  from  the  city  of  Bath, 
he  appropriated  to  the  perfecting  of  the  new  work  —  unquestionably  the 
Church — he  had  begun  :  — ■■"  ad  perficiendum  novum  opus  quod  incepi-\." 


*  "  De  Gest.  Pont."  lib.  ii.  Episc.  Wellens. 

t  The  whole  Instrument  is  curious ;  it  may  be  thus  translated :  — "  In  the  name  of  the 
Father,  the  Son,  and  the  Holy  Ghost,  I,  John,  by  the  grace  of  God,  Bishop  of  Bath,  to  all 
Bishops  my  successors,  and  to  all  the  sons  of  the  Holy  Church,  greeting.  —  Be  it  known  unto  you 
all  that  for  the  honour  of  God  and  St.  Peter,  I  have  laboured,  and  at  length  effected,  with  all 
decent  authority,  that  the  Head  and  Mother  Church  of  the  Bishopric  of  Somerset  shall  be  in  the 
City  of  Bath,  in  the  Church  of  St.  Peter ;  to  which  holy  apostle,  and  to  the  monks  his  ser- 
vants, I  have  restored  their  lands,  which  I  formerly  held  unjustly  in  my  own  hands,  in  as  free 
and  ample  a  manner  as  Aldsius  the  late  abbot  held  them  before  me ;  and  if  I  have  improved  them, 
and  whatsoever  of  mine  shall  be  found  thereon,  I  give  to  them  to  their  own  use  and  property.  I 
also  give  them  for  farther  supply  of  their  food  and  clothing,  and  to  increase  the  convent  of  the 
holy  brethren  serving  God  there,  and  to  reimburse  the  treasury  what  I  took  from  the  Church, 
those  lands  which  I  have  acquired  by  my  own  travail,  or  bought  with  my  own  money ;  —  to 
wit,  those  five  hides  in  Weston,  which  I  purchased  of  Patricius  de  Caurcia ;  and  the  land  of 
Hugh  with  the  Beard,  to  wit,  Claferton,  Docne,  Mersfield  and  Eston,  together  with  Herley  and 
Arnemude  on  the  sea-coast,  and  whatsoever  belongs  to  them ;  and  one  house  in  Bath,  and  one 
other  in  Winchester :  —  But  as  to  the  city  of  Bath,  which  first  of  all  King  William,  and  after 
him,  his  brother  King  Henry,  gave  to  St.  Peter  for  their  alms,  I  have,  pursuant  to  my  vows, 
determined  that  all  issues  and  profits  arising  from  it  be  laid  out  in  perfecting  the  new  work 
I  have  begun.  Besides,  what  I  have  acquired  of  church  ornaments,  in  copes,  in  palls,  in  cur- 
tains, in  dorsals,  in  tapestry,  in  crucifixes,  in  robes,  in  chalices,  and  in  phylacteries ;  and 
whatsoever  of  my  own  1  have  added  in  the  episcopal  chapel,  my  whole  armoury,  my  clothes, 
my  bowls,  my  plate,  and  all  my  household  furniture,  I  give  to  St.  Peter  and  his  monks  for  ever, 
to  their  own  use  and  property,  for  the  remission  of  my  sins.  Whosoever,  therefore,  shall  infringe 
on  this  my  gift,  may  the  curse  of  God,  and  of  his  holy  apostles  and  saints,  light  on  him,  and 


GIFTS  OF  JOHN  DE  VILLULA,  AND  OTHERS.  21 

The  munificence  of  John  de  Villula  excited  other  pious  devotees  to  assist 
in  endowing  his  new  foundation.  "  Walcuinus  de  Douay  gave  to  God  and 
the  Church  of  St.  Peter,  and  Bishop  John  and  the  ministers  of  the  same 
Church,  the  church  of  Bath-Hampton,  with  half  a  hide  of  land,  and  all  the 
tithes  of  that  manor.  By  the  same  charter,  Ramarus  his  brother,  and 
Gerard  his  steward,  conjointly  gave  to  the  same  grantees,  a  hide  of  land 
called  Foxcumbe ;  and  Gerard  separately  gave  the  church  of  Brocton,  with 
one  virgate  of  land ;  to  which  the  wife  of  Walcuinus,  in  concert  with  her  sons, 
added  half  the  tithe  of  Carey,  the  church  of  Brigg,  or  Bridgwater ;  and  the 
wife  of  Gerard  the  chaplain,  sixty  shillings  and  a  missal*." 

Bishop  John  erected  an  episcopal  palace  on  the  west  side  of  the  monas- 
tery, of  which,  in  Leland's  time,  a  great  square  tower  and  some  ruins 
were  remaining.  According  to  Wood,  he  likewise  constructed  two  new 
baths  within  the  limits  of  the  monastery,  for  the  public  use,  calling  the 
one  the  Bishop's  Bath,  and  the  other  the  Prior's  Bath  f ;  but  from  the 
circumstances  attending  the  discovery  of  the  ancient  baths,  which  will  be 
mentioned  hereafter,  it  is  probable  that  the  baths  alluded  to  had  been 
originally  constructed  by  the  Romans,  and  that  Villula  merely  altered  them. 
In  the  "  Decern  Scriptores,"  (coll.  247,)  this  Bishop  is  said  to  have  died 
on  the  day  after  Christmas-day  1123,  having  been  taken  suddenly  after 
dinner  with  a  pain  in  the  heart.  In  the  "  Anglia  Sacra"  he  is  stated  to 
have  died  very  old,  December  29th,  1122  J. 

Godfrey,  a  Belgian  by  birth,  who  was  chaplain  and  chancellor  to  the 
Queen,  Adeliza,  was  presented  to  the  See  of  Bath,  about  Easter  1123;  he 
was  consecrated  on  the  26th  of  August  following.  In  his  time,  Henry  the 
First  granted  to  this  church  the  valuable  manor  of  Dogmersfield,  in  Hamp- 
shire, which  afterwards  became  a  summer  residence  of  the  Bishops.  After 
a  vain  attempt  to  recover  the  lands  and  supremacy  of  the  Church  of  Wells, 

by  the  authority  of  me,  though  a  sinner,  let  him  be  accursed,  and  for  ever  cut  off  from  the 
community  of  the  Church.  Done  A.D.  1106;  in  the  reign  of  Henry,  son  of  William,  Duke 
of  Normandy,  and  King  of  England,  Anselm  being  archbishop;  of  my  ordination  the  19th, 
and  of  the  indiction  the  12th.  And  that  this  my  Deed  may  remain  more  firm  and  unshaken, 
I  have  with  my  own  hand  signed  it  with  the  sign  of  the  Holy  Cross  + ." 

*  Warner's  "  History  of  Bath,"  p.  115,  and  App.  No.  XIX. 
t  "  Description  of  Bath,"  vol.  i.  p.  186. 

J  Vide  Wharton's  Note  in  "  Anglia  Sacra,"  pars  i.  p.  560.     Henry  de  Huntingdon  calls  the 
Bishop  simply  "  Johannes  Medicus."    Ibid,  pars  ii.  p.  700. 


22  BATH  ABBEY  CHURCH. 

King  Henry,  and  Roger,  Bishop  of  Sarum,  supporting  John,  Archdeacon 
of  Wells,  against  him,  this  prelate  died  on  the  16th  of  August,  1135,  and 
was  buried  in  his  cathedral  church*. 

Robert,  a  native  of  Normandy,  and  a  monk  of  Lewes,  whom  Henry,  Bishop 
of  Winchester,  had  appointed  to  the  temporary  government  of  St.  Swithin's, 
in  that  city,  was,  by  the  influence  of  the  same  prelate,  promoted  to  the 
vacant  See  on  the  death  of  Godfrey.  During  his  episcopacy,  the  whole 
city  was  destroyed  by  fire,  on  the  29th  of  July,  1137,  together,  according 
to  Stow,  with  St.  Peter's  churchf.  The  Canon  of  Wells,  without  adverting 
to  the  latter  circumstance,  merely  says,  that  Bishop  Robert  finished  the 
Church  of  Bath  which  John  of  Tours  had  begun  J.  He  also  endowed  the 
monastery  with  the  manor  of  South-Stoke,  a  mill  there,  and  twenty  measures 
of  salt,  yearly :  these  and  other  donations,  including  the  whole  tithe  of  Bath 
and  Lincumb,  the  tithe  of  the  Vines  of  Lincumb,  the  churches  of  Forde  and 
Estun,  the  village  of  Combe,  and  divers  lands,  were  confirmed  to  the  monks 
by  Archbishop  Theobald,  in  1150. 

After  the  removal  of  the  seat  of  this  diocese  from  Wells  to  Bath, 
great  dissensions  arose  between  the  canons  of  the  former  city  and  the 
monks  of  the  latter,  respecting  the  episcopal  residence  ;  the  canons  affirming 
that  the  translation  of  the  See  by  John  de  Villula,  "  could  not  be  held 
good,  because  it  was  made  against  their  consent,  with  disregard  of  right, 
and  without  any  necessity  or  legitimate  cause  ||."  The  dispute  was  eventually 
referred  to  Bishop  Robert,  who  decreed  that  the  Bishops  should  neither 
derive  their  title  from  Wells,  as  in  old,  nor  from  Bath,  as  in  modern  times, 
but  that  they  should  in  future  take  their  names  from  both  Churches, 
and  be  called  Bishops  of  Bath  and  Wells  :  that  the  monks  of  Bath,  and 
the  canons  of  Wells,  should,  on  a  vacancy  of  the  See,  appoint  an  equal 
number  of  delegates,  by  whose  votes  the  Bishop  should  be  chosen,  (the 
Dean  of  Wells  being  the  returning  officer,)  and  that  he  should  be  enthroned 
in  both  Churches  §.  This  prelate  died  either  in  the  year  1165,  or  1166,  and 
was  buried  with  his  predecessors,  at  Bath. 


*  "  Anglia  Sacra,"  pars  i.  p.  560.  f  "  Chronicle  of  England,"  p.  144. 

%  "  Anglia  Sacra,"  pars  i.  p.  561.  ||  Ibid.  pp.  555,  556. 

§  Vide  Collinson's  "  Hist,  of  Som."  vol.  iii.  p.  379  ;  and  "  Anglia  Sacra,"  pars  i.  p.  561.  The 
composition,  or  decree,  is  extant  in  Register  Drokensford;  it  was  made  before  the  year  1139. 
"  Anglia  Sacra,"  ibid. 


FITZ-JOCELINE  AND  SAVARIC.  23 

After  his  decease,  Henry  the  Second  retained  possession  of  the  See  till 
the  year  1174,  when  he  gave  it  to  Reginald  Fitz-Joceline,  whose  father  was  an 
Englishman  by  birth,  and  Bishop  of  Sarum,  but  from  surname  and  educa- 
tion he  was  regarded  as  a  Lombard*.  This  Prelate,  described  to  be  a  man 
of  ability  and  many  excellent  qualities,  was  much  addicted  to  hunting  and 
hawking ;  and  he  obtained  from  Richard  Cceur  de  Lion  the  confirmation 
of  an  alleged  right  to  keep  dogs  for  sporting  throughout  all  Somersetshire. 
From  some  services  rendered  to  the  monks  of  Canterbury,  they  were  induced 
to  elect  him  their  archbishop,  on  Nov.  27th,  1191  ;  but  whilst  preparing  for 
his  new  See,  he  was  taken  ill  at  his  manor  of  Dogmersfield,  in  Hampshire, 
and  putting  on  a  monk's  cowl,  he  died  there  on  the  26th  of  December 
following!.     He  was  interred  near  the  high  altar  at  Bath,  on  St.  Thomas's 

dayt 

Savaric,  the  son  of  Goldwine,  Archdeacon  of  Northampton,  and  Treasurer 
of  Sarum,  being  elected  to  succeed  Reginald  by  the  monks  of  Bath,  though 
without  the  knowledge  or  consent  of  the  canons  of  Wells,  was  ordained 
priest  on  the  19th  of  September,  1192  ;  and,  as  Wharton  thinks,  consecrated 
Bishop  on  the  following  day  || .  Savaric  was  related  to  Henry  VI.  Emperor  of 
Germany,  who,  to  oblige  his  kinsman,  made  it  one  of  the  conditions  of  the 
release  of  King  Richard,  whom  he  then  held  in  captivity,  (the  King  having 
been  basely  imprisoned  on  his  way  from  the  Holy  Land,)  that  Savaric  should 
be  appointed  Bishop  of  Bath  and  Wells  ;  and  that  the  wealthy  abbey  of  Glas- 
tonbury should  be  annexed  to  his  diocese,  for  its  aggrandisement  and  advan- 
tage §.  Henry  de  Solis,  the  abbot  of  Glastonbury,  who  was  of  the  blood 
royal,  was  induced  to  consent  to  this  arrangement,  on  being  promoted  to 
the  bishopric  of  Worcester;  but  the  monks  strenuously  opposed  it,  though  in 
vain.  Stow  affirms,  on  the  authority  of  a  record  of  Henry  the  Third's  time, 
that  Savaric  procured  the  imprisonment  of  Richard,  in  order  to  annex  Glas- 

*  "  Anglia  Sacra,"  pars  i.  p.  562.  Bishop  Joceline  is  said  to  have  had  this  son  before  he  was 
ordained.  f  Ibid. 

t  "  Decern.  Scrip."  col.  667.  Hoveden  says,  he  was  buried  at  Bm ;  for  so  Bath  is  deno- 
minated, (vide  Hoved.  "  Script."  post  Bedam.  p.  405.  B.)  possibly  from  some  presumed  analogy 
to  the  Roman  Bairn. 

||  "  Anglia  Sacra,"  par*  i.  ,,p.  563. 

§  Vide  Dugdale's  "  Monasticon/'new  edit.  vol.  i.  p.  5. 'from  Johan.  Gbst. 


24  BATH  ABBEY  CHURCH. 

tonbury  to  his  see*;  and  the  King  is  reported  to  have  declared  that  the 
annexation  of  the  abbey  was  obtained  from  him  by  force  and  terrorf.  But, 
whatever  the  truth  may  be,  in  these  respects,  it  appears  that  Richard  profited 
by  the  opportunity  sufficiently  to  induce  the  Bishop  to  surrender  to  him  the 
city  of  Bath,  which  was  then  valued  at  100/.  per  annum.  Savaric  assumed 
the  title  of  Bishop  of  Bath  and  Glastonbury ;  and  he  granted  the  arch- 
deaconry of  Bath  to  the  prior  and  convent  there.  He  died  at  Scienes,  on 
the  8th  of  August  1205 ;  and  was  buried  in  this  church.  The  following 
monkish  rhymes,  expressive  of  the  rambling  inquietude  of  his  disposition, 
are  said  to  have  formed  his  epitaph  :  — 

Hospes  erat  mundo, — per  mundum  semper  eundo, 
Sic  suprema  dies — fit  sibi  prima  quies. 

Joceline  de  Wells,  called  Joceline  de  Troteman  in  the  "  Annales  Marga- 
nenses,"  who  had  been  made  a  Justice  of  the  Common  Pleas  in  September 
1204,  was  consecrated  Bishop  of  Bath,  in  St.  Mary's  chapel  at  Reading,  on 
the  28th  of  May,  1206J.  He  was  elected  by  the  joint  chapters  of  Bath  and 
Wells ;  with  this  new  arrangement,  that  the  prior  of  Bath  should  proclaim 
the  bishop  elect,  who  should  always  be  first  enthroned  in  the  church  at 
Bath  || .  During  his  episcopacy,  the  monks  of  Glastonbury,  after  great  exer- 
tions, and  an  appeal  to  the  court  of  Rome,  obtained  a  dissolution  of  their 
enforced  union  with  this  see :  yet  not  till  they  had  agreed  to  surrender  to 
the  bishop  the  valuable  manors  of  Winescombe,  Puckle-church,  Blackford, 
and  Cranmore,  together  with  the  advowsons  of  several  churches.  This 
arrangement  was  duly  confirmed  by  a  bull  of  Pope  Honorius  the  Third, 
dated  at  Rome,  on  the  16th  of  the  kalends  of  June,  1218  §  ;  and  Joceline  then 
resumed  the  title  of  Bishop  of  Bath  and  Wells,  which  has  ever  since  been 
used  by  the  successive  prelates  of  this  see. 

*  "Chronicles  of  England." 

t  See  Adami.  de  Dom.  Mon.  Glast.  Hist.  Cont.  inter  Epis.  Bathon.  et  Mon.  Glast.  "  Anglia 
Sacra,"  pars  i.  p.  578. 

X  Ibid.  p.  564.  ||  Ibid. 

§  See  Dugdale's  "  Monasticon,"  vol.  ii.  p.  269.  Num.  xix.  Bishop  Joceline  dictated  the 
oath  taken  by  Henry  the  Third,  at  his  coronation  at  Gloucester;  and,  with  Peter,  Bishop  of 
Winchester,  crowned  him.     Matt.  Paris  "  Hist.  Angl."  p.  243. 


PRIORS  OF  BATH.  25 

Bishop  Joceline  having  incurred  the  high  displeasure  of  King  John,  by 
interdicting  the  nation  pursuant  to  the  Pope's  command,  in  the  year  1208, 
was  obliged,  soon  after,  to  quit  the  kingdom.  During  his  absence,  the  King 
retained  the  temporalities  of  the  bishopric ;  and  in  the  14th  of  his  reign, 
anno  1212,  Thomas  Peverel,  his  escheator,  accounted  to  him  for  the  profits 
of  it:  the  net  amount  in  that  year  was  213/.  14*.  6cl*  After  an  exile  of 
five  years,  this  prelate  returned  to  England,  and  built  the  greater  part  of 
Wells  cathedral.  He  died  on  the  19th  of  November,  1242,  and  was  buried 
in  the  middle  of  the  choir,  in  that  edifice  f. 

In  the  following  year,  the  monks  of  Bath  elected  for  their  Bishop,  Roger, 
precentor  of  Sarum ;  but  this  being  done  without  consulting  the  canons  of 
Wells,  an  appeal  was  made  to  the  Pope,  who  decided  that  the  right  of  election 
was  jointly  in  the  two  chapters.  Roger,  however,  having  conciliated  the 
canons,  the  monks,  (who  promised  a  stricter  observance  of  the  compact  in 
future,)  had  their  choice  confirmed,  and  the  Bishop  elect  was  consecrated 
at  Reading,  on  the  11th  of  September,  1244.  This  prelate  died  on  the  21st 
of  December,  1247,  or,  as  other  accounts,  in  January  1248J.  He  was^the 
last  of  the  Bishops  interred  at  Bath ;  which,  about  this  period,  appears  to 
have  become  subordinate  to  Wells  in  episcopal  authority  and  power.  It  will  not 
therefore  be  requisite  to  introduce,  in  this  place,  any  account  of  the  sub- 
sequent bishops  of  this  See,  as  in  the  "  History  and  Antiquities  of  Wells 
Cathedral,"  biographical  anecdotes  of  the  most  eminent  of  its  Prelates  have 
been  recorded. 

PRIORS   OF  BATH. 

It  has  been  said,  that  from  the  period  this  abbey  was  annexed  to  the  see 
of  Bath,  by  John  de  Villula,  till  the  year  1159,  "  the  establishment  was 
governed  by  a  sub-prior,  acting  under  the  directions  of  the  bishop ;"  yet  we 
find  the  names  of  John  and  Benedict,  who  were  Priors  of  Bath  before  that 


*  Vide  "  Comp.  Epis.  Baton,  de  anno  integro."  Mag.  Rot.  14.  Joh.  rot.  i.  6.  By  that 
instrument  it  appears  that  the  Bishop's  establishment  comprised  a  train  of  huntsmen,  a  noble 
pack  of  harriers,  and  thirteen  other  dogs  of  different  descriptions,  besides  other  articles  of  luxury. 

f  See  "  History,"  &c.  of  "  Wells  Cathedral." 

X  "  Anglia  Sacra,"  pars  i.  p.  565.     In  "  Annal.  Wigorn."  ibid.  p.  492,  it  is  said  .that  the  Pope?* 
made  Roger  de  Sarum  Bishop  of  Bath,  on  account  of  the  dissensions  between  the  chapters  of  Bath 
and  Wells. 


26  BATH  ABBEY  CHURCH. 

year  :  the  former  presided  during  the  time  of  De  Villula,  and  the  latter  in 
1151*.  In  1159,  Peter  was  constituted  prior,  and  his  name  again  occurs 
in  1175.  His  successor  appears  to  have  been  Walter,  sub-prior  of  Hyde 
and  Winchester,  "  a  man  of  much  science  and  piety."  He  presided,  except 
during  a  short  retirement,  at  Wherwell  in  Hampshire,  till  his  decease,  on 
the  31st  of  May,  1198 ;  and  was  interred  at  Bathf.  About  the  year  1190, 
Hugh  occurs  as  prior  % ;  he  probably  held  that  office  during  Walter's  re- 
tirement. 

Robert  was  prior  in  September  1198.  In  his  time,  King  John,  who 
had  previously  to  his  accession  founded  two  Benedictine  priories  at  Water- 
ford  and  Cork,  in  Ireland,  and  annexed  them  to  this  monastery,  granted  to 
the  "  Church  of  the  Apostles  St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul  at  Bath,  and  to  the  prior 
and  monks  serving  God  there  ||,"  his  Berton,  or  Barton,  a  farm  near  the  city 
walls,  together  with  an  exempt  and  separate  jurisdiction,  in  consideration  of 
two  payments  into  the  Exchequer  of  10/.  each.  This  was  in  his  5th  year, 
anno  1204  :  three  years  afterwards,  he  bestowed  many  important  privileges 
on  the  monks  of  Bath,  conjointly  with  the  canons  of  Wells ;  such  as  having 
toll,  theam,  and  infangenthef  on  all  their  property,  together  with  two  ordeals 
of  water  and  fire,  and  the  privilege  of  execution ;  with  exemptions  from 
all  suits  and  attendances  in  courts,  whether  general  or  local,  and  from  all 
juries,  assizes,  &c.§  In  October  1223,  Prior  Robert,  by  the  influence  of 
Bishop  Joceline,  was  made  abbot  of  Glastonbury ;  but  the  violent  conten- 
tions which  arose  between  him  and  the  monks  there,  —  (he  having  been 
chaplain  to  Savaric,  whom  the  latter  considered  to  have  subverted  their 
privileges,) — occasioned  him  at  length  to  return  to  Bath,  (where  he  died 
in  tranquillity  in  Passion  week,  1234,)  on  a  pension  of  60/.  per  annum  f . 

In  1228,  Thomas  was  prior,  and  his  name  occurs  in  various  years,  till 
his  decease  on  the  Eve  of  St.  John  Baptist,  1261**.     In  his  time,  and  in 


*  Dug.  "  Monasticon,"  vol.  ii.  pp.  257,  258  :  new  edit. 

t  "  Anglia  Sacra,"  pars  i.  "  Anna).  Winton."  ibid.  p.  304. 

%  Dugdale's  "  Monasticon,"  vol.  ii.  p.  258. 

||  Warner's  "  History  of  Bath,"  p.  117,  and  Appendix,  Nos.  XXVIII.  and  XXXIX.  The 
grant  made  by  King  John  in  1204,  is  the  first  in  which  this  church  is  styled  St.  Peter's  and 
St.  Paul's ;  and  it  is  remarkable,  that  in  his  second  grant,  anno  1207,  it  is  called  St.  Peter's 
only.     In  all  succeeding  grants,  it  has  the  duplex  appellation  of  St.  Peter's  and  St.  Paul's. 

§  Ibid.  IT  Adami.  de  Dom.  in  "  Anglia  Sacra,"  pars  i.  p.  583. 

**  Dugdale's  "  Monasticon,"  vol.  ii.  p.  258. 


PRIORS  OP  BATH.  27 

that  of  his  predecessor,  this  city,  with  the  adjoining  barton,  was  held  on  lease 
by  the  prior  of  Bath,  at  the  pleasure  of  the  King,  and  on  payment  of  the 
annual  rent  of  30/.  into  the  Exchequer*.  Walter  de  Aona,  receiver  of  the 
monastery,  was  elected  prior  in  July  1261,  and  his  name  again  occurs  in 
1275.  During  his  supremacy,  Edward  the  First,  anno  primo,  assigned  Bath, 
with  its  barton  and  appurtenances,  to  his  consort  Eleanor,  in  dower,  for 
the  term  of  her  natural  life  ;  and  a  writ  to  that  effect  issued  to  the  prior  and 
convent,  the  then  lessees  of  the  premises.  But  this  assignment  must  have 
been  speedily  retracted,  as  the  same  monarch,  in  his  third  year,  granted  to 
Richard  Burnell,  bishop  of  Bath  and  Wells,  and  to  his  successors,  and  the 
churches  of  Bath  and  Wells,  the  whole  of  this  city  and  its  suburbs,  &c. 
"  except  the  Berton  of  Bath,  which  the  prior  and  convent  of  Bath  hold 
of  us  in  fee-farm-)"." 

Thomas  de  Wynton,  who  was  made  prior  in  1291,  resigned  on  the  4th  of 
the  ides  of  April,  1301.  Robert  de  Cloppecote  was  prior  in  1303  :  and  in  the 
following  year,  King  Edward  granted  to  him  and  his  convent  the  liberty  of 
holding  two  fairs  annually,  the  one  on  their  manor  at  Lyncomb,  the  other  on 
their  manor  at  Barton.  Cloppecote  oppressed  the  monks  so  grievously,  that 
the  bishop,  John  de  Drokensford,  by  an  objurgatory  letter,  dated  in  August 
1321,  commanded  him  to  render  them  justice,  and  to  rectify  the  abuses  of 
which  they  complained.  By  his  negligence,  also,  the  Abbey  Church  is 
stated  to  have  been  suffered  to  fall  to  such  decay,  that  the  Bishop  judged 
it  requisite  to  issue  a  circular  letter  throughout  his  diocese,  in  the  autumn 
of  1324,  for  a  general  collection  towards  its  repair;  and  the  work  was 
completed  in  the  ensuing  year.  In  1329,  Prior  Cloppecote  was  mulcted 
by  the  crown,  for  appropriating  the  church  of  Corston  to  his  monastery,  con- 
trary to  the  statute  of  Mortmain:  he  died  on  Ash- Wednesday,  1331.  In  the 
following  March,  Robert  de  Sutton  was  chosen  prior,  but  the  Pope  not  approving 
the  choice,  nominated  Thomas  Christi,  or  Christy,  and  Sutton  resigned,  on 

*  "  Prior  Bathoniae  reddit  competum  de  xxxl.  de  firma  civitatis  Bathonise  tenende  per  talem 
firmam  quamdiu  regi  placuerit."  Mag.  Rot.  Hen.  III.  9  ann.  In  the  twentieth  of  John  [Henry] 
the  lessee  was  obliged  to  pay  into  the  Exchequer  the  sum  of  13Z.  lis.  over  and  above  his  rent,  for 
the  charge  of  the  repairs  that  were  then  wanting  in  the  King's  houses  and  baths,  which  the  prior 
had  suffered  to  dilapidate.     Rot.  Pip.  20th  Hen.  III.     Warner's  "  History  of  Bath,"  p.  168,  note. 

t  This  grant  of  Bath  was  in  exchange  for  the  patronage  of  Glastonbury  abbey,  and  the  service 
of  the  lands  belonging  to  it,  with  fines,  emoluments,  &c.  Vide  Warner's  "  History  of  Bath," 
p.  170 ;  and  Appendix,  Nos.  XLVI.  andXLVH. 


28  BATH  ABBEY  CHURCH. 

September  24,  1332 ;  the  priory  of  Dunster,  and  several  pensions  to  the 
amount  of  36/.,  having  been  assigned  to  him  by  the  convent*.  Christy  was 
confirmed  on  the  8th  of  the  kalends  of  October,  but  did  not  long  survive.  His 
successor  Robert,  the  fourth  of  that  name,  was  prior  in  June  1333.  John  de 
Iford,  or  Yford,  who  next  occurs  as  prior,  was  cited  to  appear  before  the 
bishop  of  his  diocese  in  August  1346,  for  committing  adultery  with  Agnes 
Cubbel,  at  Hammeswell;  and  on  this  charge  he  either  resigned  or  was 
deprived  in  the  following  yearf.  In  1363,  John  occurs  as  prior,  probably  the 
same  as  John  de  Berevnke,  whose  name  occurs  in  1370,  and  as  John  de  Berkelye, 
mentioned  by  Warner. 

John  de  Forde  was  prior  in  1371;  and  afterwards  John  de  Walcote.  John 
Dunster,  prior  in  1406,  died  February  6th,  1412;  and  John  de  Telesford  was 
elected  on  the  10th  of  March  following:  he  was  summoned  to  a  convocation  in 
St.  Paul's,  anno  1415,  and  died  in  1425.  During  his  time,  there  was  a  great 
dispute  between  the  convent  and  the  mayor  and  citizens  of  Bath,  concerning 
the  ringing  of  the  bells  in  the  parish  churches ;  but  at  length,  after  the  dis- 
sensions had  continued  several  years,  it  was  decreed,  at  an  inquisition  held 
at  Frome,  in  the  9th  of  Henry  V.  "  that  no  one  should  ring  any  bells  within 
the  precincts  of  Bath  in  the  day-time,  before  the  prior  had  rung  his  bells  ■ 
nor  in  the  night-time,  after  the  prior  had  rung  his  curfew  J."  On  the  20th  of 
April,  1426,  William  Southbroke  became  prior :  he  appears  to  have  been  cited 
to  a  council  at  Ferrara  in  1438,  and  he  died  on  the  7th  of  June,  1447.  On 
the  16th  of  September,  in  the  same  year,  Thomas  Lay  cock  was  named  prior  by 
Bishop  Stafford,  with  consent  of  the  monks,  and  he  was  in  office  anno  1451. 
In  1476,  Richard  was  prior ;  and  he  is  said,  in  the  Register  of  Beckington,  to 
have  been  present  at  the  baptism  of  Richard,  son  to  George,  Duke  of  Clarence, 
at  Tewkesbury,  on  October  the  7th,  in  that  year. 

In  1489,  John  Cantlowe  was  made  prior  :  in  his  time,  anno  1494,  Archbishop 
Morton  visited  the  monastery:  he  died  in  August  1499.  On  the  31st  of  the 
same  month,  William  Birde  was  elected ;  and  although  his  admission  was  at 
first  opposed  by  the  Bishop,  Oliver  King,  he  was  eventually  instituted  by  that 
prelate,  and  he  became  his  most  effective  coadjutor  in  the  rebuilding  of  this 
church:  he  died  May  the  22d,  1525.  His  successor,  William  Holway,  or 
Holleweye,  alias  Gybbs,  was  elected  on  the  5th  of  July  following ;  and  after  his 

*  Bibl.  Harl.  MS.  6955,  p.  66.  -f-  Dugd.  "  Monasticon,"  vol.  ii.  p.  260. 

\  Collinson's  "  History  of  Somersetshire,"  vol.  i.  p.  56. 


PRIORS  OF  BATH.  29 

appointment,  he  ardently  applied  himself  to  the  completion  of  the  Abbey 
Church.  This  was  scarcely  effected,  however,  before  he  found  it  requisite 
to  surrender  his  monastery  to  King  Henry  the  Eighth,  which  was  done  on 
the  27th  of  June,  1539 ;  five  years  previous  to  which  the  annual  value  of 
its  possessions  was  returned  by  the  King's  commissioners  (who  on  that 
occasion  were,  Sir  Henry  Cassell,  knt.,  Henry  Covell,  late  mayor  of  Bath, 
and  John  Browne,)  at  the  sum  of  617/.  2*.*  Speed  gives  the  value,  at  the 
period  of  the  dissolution,  as  amounting  to  695/.  6s.  An  annual  pension  of  80/., 
"  with  certain  perquisites  arising  from  the  baths,  and  a  tenement  in  Stall's- 
street  of  the  rent  of  20*.,"  was  granted  to  Prior  Holway ;  nine  pounds  yearly 
was  granted  to  John  Pyth,  the  sub-prior ;  and  smaller  sums  were  given  to 
the  other  monks,  who  were  nineteen  in  number.  Browne  Willis  states,  that 
the  King  would  have  advanced  Holway  to  good  preferment,  but  that  he 
refused  the  same,  and  concluded  his  days  in  privacy  and  retirement  |. 

Among  the  very  few  members  of  this  establishment  who  have  been  recorded 
as  eminent  for  learning,  is  the  monk  Adelard,  or  Athelard ;  who  lived  at  the 
end  of  the  11th  and  beginning  of  the  12th  centuries.  Leland  says,  that  he 
went  to  France  to  study,  and  was  a  close  follower  of  Aristotle.  He  adds, 
that  from  the  preface  to  his  "  Natural  Questions,"  it  appears  that  he  lived 
in  the  time  of  Henry  I.J  Bale  says,  that  Adelard  had  travelled  over  Egypt 
and  Africa || .  He  wrote  a  Dialogue  of  the  Causes  of  Natural  Objects,  between 
himself  and  his  nephew,  the  preface  of  which  is  published  in  Martenne's 
"  Thesaurus  Anecdotorum§."  Pits  mentions  other  works,  viz. :  1.  A  Book 
of  the  Seven  Arts ;  2.  Another,  De  sic  et  non  sic ;  3.  A  Work  on  the 
Astrolabe  ;  4.  A  Book  of  Seventy-six  Problems,  or  Natural  Questions,  much 
commended  by  Leland  ;  5.  Another,  on  the  Doctrine  of  the  Abacus ;  6.  A 
Translation  of  Euclid's  Geometry  from  Arabic  into  Latin;  7.  A  Work  on  the 
Seven  Planets;  —  perhaps  Japhar,  the  Mathematician's,  whose  Introduction 
to  Astronomy  was  translated  from  the  Arabic  by  this  Adelard^]". 


*  Warner's  "  History  of  Bath,"  pp.  126 — 129,  and  Appendix,  No.  LXX1V.  from  the  original 
in  the  First  Fruits'  Office. 

f  "  History  of  Mitred  Abbeys,"  vol.  i.  p.  221.  J  "  De  Script.  Brit,"  p.  201. 

||  "  Illust.  Mag."  vol.  ii.  p.  69.  h  Vide  vol.  i.  p.  292. 

If  See  Oudin.  torn.  ii.  In  Leland's  "  Collectanea,"  the  titles  of  a  few  MS.  volumes  are  men- 
tioned, which  were  in  the  monastic  library  at  the  time  of  the  Reformation  :  viz.  "  Isagoge  Joannicii ; 


30  BATH  ABBEY  CHURCH. 

Under  the  auspices  of  the  monks  of  Bath,  the  art  of  weaving  Woollen  cloth 
was  established  in  this  city  soon  after  its  introduction  into  England,  about 
the  year  1333;  and  it  was  carried  to  such  perfection  during  the  course  of 
the  14th  century,  that  Bath  became  one  of  the  most  considerable  places  in 
the  west  for  that  manufacture.  Wood  states,  that  the  shuttle,  the  chief 
implement  in  the  art,  "  was  introduced,  with  the  arms  of  the  abbey,  as  an 
ornament  in  front  of  the  abbey-house,  and  was  remaining  there  in  his  time  ; 
a  trophy  of  the  industry  of  the  monks  of  Bath*."  But  if  the  inmates  of 
this  establishment  excelled  some  of  their  brethren  in  industry,  they  we're  not 
inferior  to  any  of  them  in  their  endeavours  to  stifle  the  voice  of  reason,  and 
keep  the  inquiring  mind  involved  in  superstition  and  credulity.  A  particular 
instance  of  this  kind  occurred  in  the  year  1459,  when  Agnes,  the  wife  of 
Thomas  Cole,  of  Bath,  was  prosecuted  in  the  ecclesiastical  court  at  Wells, 
for  having  said  "  that  it  was  but  waste  to  give  to  the  Holy  Trinity  at  Bath  ; 
and  equally  absurd  to  go  on  pilgrimages  to  St.  Osmund  at  Salisbury ;  and 
that  she  wished  the  road  thither  was  choaked  up  with  bremmel  [brambles 
and  thorns],  to  lette  [hinder]  people  from  going  thither."  She  was  sentenced 
to  recant  the  heretical  and  disrespectful  words  she  had  thus  uttered,  before 
all  the  congregation  in  the  great  church  of  Bath-)". 

In  the  year  1542-3,  (34th  of  Henry  VIII.)  the  King,  by  his  letters  patent 
dated  March  the  16th,  in  consideration  of  the  sum  of  962/.  17*.  Ad.,  already 
paid  into  the  court  of  Augmentation,  granted  the  hospital  of  St.  John,  at 
Bridgewater,  the  priory  of  Dunster,  with  its  appurtenances,  "  as  part  of  the 
possessions  of  the  late  priory  of  Bath,"  the  monastery  or  priory  of  Bath  itself, 
with  all  "  the  houses,  buildings,  gardens,  orchards,  barns,  dove-houses,  stables, 
pools,  warrens,  fish-ponds,"  &c.  within  the  site  and  precincts  of  the  same  ; 

Libellus  Galeni  ad  Msecenatem ;  Hiponosticon  Laurentii  Dunelmensis  Carmine  de  Veteri  et  Novo 
Testamento ;  Galenus  de  Morbo  et  Accidenti ;  Liber  de  Febribus,  quem  transtulit  Constantinus 
monachus  Cassinensis  ex  lingua  Arabica ;  Commentarii  Csesaris."  "  Collectanea,"  vol.  iv.  p.  156. 
There  is  probably  a  mistake  in  the  title  of  the  second  work,  which  connects  Galen  with  Maecenas, 
as  the  most  celebrated  individuals  known  under  those  appellations  lived  at  different  periods. 

%"  Description  of  Bath,"  vol.  i.  p.  191.  Warner  says,  that  "  the  shuttle  was  incorporated  into 
the  arms  of  the  monastery,"  (History  of  Bath,  p.  122);  but  he  has  evidently  mistaken  the  passage 
in  Wood  to  which  he  refers.  There  is  no  appearance  of  the  shuttle  in  either  of  the  coats  engraved 
as  the  arms  of  this  monastery  in  Tanner's  "  Notitia  Monastica." 

f  Warner's  "  History  of  Bath,"  p.  122,  from  excerpt.  "  Reg.  Wellens."  in  Bibl.  Harl.  No.  6964, 
sub  anno  1459. 


GRANTS  OF  EDWARD  THE  SIXTH.  31 

together  with  various  messuages,  lands,  tenements,  (including  the  Prior's  park,) 
in  Lyncombe,  Wydcombe,  Hollway,  and  Walcot ;  and  the  capital  messuage 
or  mansion  of  Combe,  with  its  appurtenances,  as  possessed  by  the  monastery 
of  Bath,  toHumfrey  Colles,  Gent.,  his  heirs  and  assigns,  for  ever;  "  together 
with  all  such  court-leets,  view  of  frank-pledge,  assize  of  bread,  wine,  and 
beer,  knights'  fees,  wards,  and  marriages,  escheats,  heriots,  fairs,  markets, 
tolls,  customs,  commons,  free-warrens,  goods  and  chattels,  waifs  and  strays, 
profits,  commodities,  emoluments,  and  hereditaments  whatsoever,  as  the  abbots 
and  priors  of  the  said  monastery  heretofore  held  and  enjoyed."  The  mansion 
of  Combe  was  to  be  held  in  capite,  by  the  fortieth  part  of  one  knight's  fee, 
rendered  yearly ;  and  the  late  site  and  possessions  of  the  priory  of  Bath,  by  an 
annual  rent  of  eight  shillings  and  four  pence*.  In  the  following  year,  an  act 
of  Parliament  was  passed,  by  which  the  Dean  and  Chapter  of  Wells  were 
empowered  to  make  one  sole  chapter  for  the  Bishop  of  Bath  and  Wells.  About 
nine  years  afterwards,  namely,  on  the  12th  of  July,  1552,  Edward  the  Sixth 
granted  to  the  corporation  of  Bath,  such  lands  and  tenements  within  the  city 
and  its  suburbs,  as  formerly  belonged  to  the  priory,  and  were  then  in  the  pos- 
session of  the  crown,  for  the  maintenance  of  ten  poor  aged  people,  and  for  the 
instruction  of  the  youth  of  the  city,  by  a  proper  master,  in  the  Latin  tonguef. 


*  Warner's  "  History  of  Bath,"  p.  134  ;  and  Appendix,  No.  LXXIX. 

t  Wood's  "  Description  of  Bath,"  vol.  i.  pp.  197,  199.  The  Hospital  of  St.  Catherine,  at 
Bath,  called  the  Bimberries,  from  being  situated  in  Bimberry-lane,  had  its  origin  from  this  grant  of 
Edward  VI. 


CHAPTER  III. 


PROGRESS    OF    THE    ERECTION    OF    THE     PRESENT     CHURCH ACCOUNT     OF     BISHOP 

OLIVER  KING HIS  VISION,    AND  CONSEQUENT  FOUNDATION    OF    THIS  FABRIC 

HIS    INJUNCTIONS    TO  PRIOR  BIRDE PROGRESS    OF    THE  BUILDING POETICAL 

ACCOUNT  OF  PRIOR  HOLLEWAYE STATE  OF  THE  CHURCH   IN  QUEEN  ELIZABETH'S 

REIGN REPARATIONS     OF    THE    SAME     BY     CHAPMAN,    BELLOT,    AND    OTHERS- 
SOLICITUDE    OF    SIR     JOHN    HARINGTON    TO     COMPLETE     THE     CHURCH BISHOP 

MONTAGUE    INDUCED    TO     CONTINUE    THE    WORK IMPROVEMENTS     NEAR     THE 

CHURCH ROMAN     BATHS     UNDER     THE     ABBEY     CHURCH DISCOVERY     OF     MO- 
NASTIC VESTMENTS. 

The  Church  which  Bishop  Robert  had  completed  experienced  so  much 
neglect  from  the  monks,  that  it  had  become  very  ruinous  before  the  close 
of  the  fifteenth  century.  It  appears,  indeed,  (as  well  as  the  affairs  of  the 
monastery  in  general,)  to  have  been  most  shamefully  neglected  long  prior  to 
that  time  —  a  letter  being  still  extant,  which  was  written  to  Prior  Robert, 
on  "  the  miserable  state  of  his  convent,"  by  Bishop  John  de  Drokensford,  in 
August  1321*;  and,  three  years  afterwards,  that  prelate  caused  a  collection 
to  be  made  throughout  his  diocese,  for  the  repairs  of  the  Church.  During 
that,  and  the  succeeding  century,  it  was  again  so  utterly  neglected,  that, 
to  employ  the  strong  expressions  of  Bishop  King,  it  became  ruined  to  the 
foundations  —  imo  funditus  dirutam\, — in  consequence  of  the  monks  expending 
their  large  income  in  pleasurable  indulgences,  instead  of  appropriating  some 
part  thereof  to  the  necessary  reparations  of  the  fabric.  It  was  in  this  forlorn 
state,  when  Dr.  Oliver  King,  who  was  eminent  both  as  a  divine  and  a 
politician,  was  translated  from  Exeter  into  the  episcopal  chair  of  Bath  and 
Wells;  in  which  he  was  enthroned,  on  the  12th  of  March,  1496.  This  pre- 
late was  one  of  the  Fellows  of  King's  College,  Cambridge,  and  he  after- 
wards became  Archdeacon  of  Taunton,  Registrar  of  the  Order  of  the  Garter, 
Canon  of  Windsor,  and  principal  Secretary  of  State  to  Edward  the  Fourth, 
Edward  the  Fifth,  Henry  the  Sixth,  and  Henry  the  Seventh ;  by  the  latter 

*  Vide  Appendix,  No.  HI.  t  Ibid.  No.  IV. 


ACCOUNT  OF  BISHOP  OLIVER  KING. — HIS  DREAM.  33 

of  whom  he  was  employed  in  France  to  conclude  a  treaty  of  peace  with 
Charles  the  Eighth,  which  mission  he  executed  with  great  success :  he 
was  promoted  to  the  see  of  Exeter  in  1492,  and  thence  to  Bath  and  Wells 
on  November  the  6th,  1495.     He  died  on  the  29th  of  August,  1503*. 

This  Prelate,  who  is  thought  to  have  been  perfectly  conversant  with  the 
Pointed  style  of  architecture,  is  said  to  have  been  influenced  to  commence 
the  rebuilding  of  this  Church  by  a  dream,  or  vision,  which  he  very  simply 
mistook  for  a  divine  communication.  Of  this  vision,  which,  Wood  says,' 
occurred  to  the  Bishop  when  he  came  to  Bath  "  to  institute  Prior  Birde 
into  his  office,"  in  the  year  1499,  Sir  John  Harington  gives  the  following 
pleasing  and  familiar  account : — 

"  Here  I  may  by  no  meanes  omitt,  yet  I  can  scant  tell  how  to  relate 
the  pretty  tales  that  are  told  of  this  Bishop  King,  by  what  visions  and  pre- 
dictions he  was  incouraged  and  discouraged  in  the  building  of  this  churche, 
whether  some  cunning  woman  had  foretold  him  of  the  spoyle  that  followd, 
(as  Paulus  Jovius  wrytes  how  a  Witch  deceaved  his  next  successor  Hadryan, 
Bishop  of  Bathe) ;  or  whether  his  own  mynde  running  of  it,  gave  him  occa- 
sion, sleeping,  to  dream  of  that  he  thought  waking ;  but  this  goes  for  currant, 

*  There  is  some  degree   of  uncertainty  as   to  the   real  burial  place  of  Bishop   King ;  who, 
according  to  the  Red  Book,  or  Register  of  Wells,  died  on  the  29th  of  August,  1503,  as  men- 
tioned in  the  text;  and  not  on  the  24th  of  January,  as.  stated  by  Godwin,  and  others.     By  his  Will, 
which  was  proved  on  the  24th  of  October  in  the  above  year,  he  directed  his  body  to  be  interred  in 
the  choir  of  the  new  church  of  Bath,  near  the  first  arch  on  the  north  side  towards  the  altar ;  but 
his  tomb  (of  grey  marble)  is  reputed  to  be  in  the  south  aile  of  St.  George's  Chapel  at  Windsor, 
within  a  sepulchral  or  chantry  Chapel,  which  was  founded  by  himself,  and  still  retains  his  name. 
So  far,  therefore,  the  evidence  preponderates  in  corroboration  of  his  remains  having  been  depo- 
sited at  Windsor,  notwithstanding  the  contrary  directions  of  his  Will ;  and  as  there  is  no  tomb 
at  Bath  that  has  ever  been  assigned  to  him,  nor  any  record  of  his  burial  there,  we  may  safely 
conclude,  that  Windsor  was  the  actual  place  of  his  interment.     The  full  length  portraitures  and 
armorial  bearings  of  the  four  Sovereigns  to  whom  he  was  secretary,  are  painted  on  the  pannels  of 
an  oaken  screen,  forming  part  of  the  inclosure  of  the  choir,  opposite  to  his  chantry  at  Windsor ; 
and  under  them  is  the  following  incomplete  inscription,  in  black  letter ;  which  he,  doubtless,  had 
placed  there  previously  to  his  translation  to  Bath  and  Wells  :  of  late  years  the  portraits  have  been 
repainted — "  Orate  pro   Dno   Olivero  Kyng,  Juris  Professore,  ac  illustris  Edwardi  primogeniti 
Regis   Henrici   Sexti,  et  Serenissimorum   Regum  Edwardi   Quarti,  Edwardi   Quinti,   et  Henrici 
Septimi,   Principali    Secretario,    dignissimi    Ordinis    Garterij   Registrio,    et  huius   Sacri   Collegii 
Canonico,  A0,  Dfii  1489  :  et  postea  per  dictum  Illustrissim.  Rege  Henrici  Septm.  A"  Dfii  1492, 
ad  sedii  Exoniensem  comedato."     See  Carter's  "  Ancient  Sculpture  and  Painting." 

F 


34  BATH  ABBEY  CHURCH. 

and  confirmed  with  pretty  probabilities  —  that  lying  at  Bathe,  and  musing 
or  meditating  one  night  late,  after  his  devotions  and  prayers  for  the  pro- 
sperity of  Henry  Vllth  and  his  children  (who  were  then  all  or  most  part 
lyving),  to  which  King  he  was  principal  Secretary,  and  by  him  preferred 
to  his  bishoprick ;  he  saw,  or  supposed  he  saw,  a  vision  of  the  Holy  Trynitie, 
with  angells  ascending  and  descending  by  a  ladder,  neer  to  the  foote  of  which 
there  was  a  fayre  Olive  tree,  supporting  a  crowne,  and  a  voyce  that  said  — 
'■  Let  an  Olive  establish  the  Crowne,  and  let  a  King  restore  the  Church.' 
Of  this  dreame,  or  vision,  he  took  exceeding  great  comfort,  and  told  it 
divers  of  his  frends,  applying  it  to  the  King  his  master  in  parte,  and  some 
part  to  himselfe.  To  his  master,  because  the  Olive  being  the  emblem  or 
hieroglifick  of  peace  and  plentie,  seemed  to  him  to  allude  to  King  Henry 
Vllth,  who  was  worthely  counted  the  wisest  and  most  peaceable  King  in 
all  Europe  of  that  age.  To  himself,  (for  the  wisest  will  flatter  themselves 
somtime),  because  he  was  not  only  a  chiefe  councellor  to  this  King,  and 
had  bene  his  ambassador  to  conclude  the  most  honourable  peace  with  Charles 
the  8.  who  paid  (as  Hollinshed  wryteth)  745  thousand  ducketts,  beside  a 
yearly  tribute  of  25,000  crowns ;  but  also  he  carried  both  the  Olive  and 
the  King  in  his  own  name  ;  and  therefore  thought  he  was  specially  designed 
for  this  church-worke,  to  the  advauncement  of  which  he  had  an  extraor- 
dinary inclynation.  Thus  though  (as  St.  Thomas  of  Aquin  well  noteth)  all 
dreames,  be  they  never  so  sencible,  will  be  found  to  hault  in  some  part  of 
their  coherence  ;  and  so  perhaps  may  this ;  yet  most  certaine  it  is,  he  was  so 
transported  with  his  dreame,  for  the  tyme,  that  he  presently  set  in  hand  with 
this  Church,  (the  ruins  whereof  I  rue  to  behold  even  in  wryting  theis  lynes) ; 
and  at  the  west  end  thereof  he  caused  a  representation  to  be  graved  of  this 
his  Vision  of  the  Trynitie,  the  angells,  and  the  ladder ;  and  on  the  north 
side  the  olive  and  crown,  with  certain  French  wordes,  which  I  could  not 
reade ;  but  in  English  is  this  vearse,  taken  out  of  the  book  of  Judges,  chap.  9. 

Trees  going  to  chuse  their  King 
Said,  '  be  to  us  the  Olive  King.' 

All  which  is  so  curiously  cut  and  carved,  as  in  the  west  part  of  England  is  no 
better  worke  than  in  the  west  end  of  this  poor  church ;  and  to  make  the 
credit  of  all  this  more  authentique,  he  added  this  worde  to  it,  '  de  sursum 


ACCOUNT  OF  BISHOP  OLIVER  KING.  35 

est,''  it  is  from  on  high.     Thus  much  the  stones  and  walls  (though  dumb  wit- 
nesses, yet  credible,)  doe  playnly  testifie*." 

Under  the  powerful  impression  of  this  dream,  Bishop  King  issued  Injunc- 
tions, anno  1500,  to  the  Prior  and  convent  of  Bath,  peremptorily  decreeing 
that  the  expenditure  of  their  revenues  should  be  reduced  in  the  manner 
he  assigned,  and  that  the  residue  should  be  absolutely  expended  in  erecting 
a  new  Church  f.  At  that  period  the  annual  income  amounted  to  480/. 
16*.  6d. ;  of  which  rental  the  Bishop  directed  that  eight  marks  per  annum 
should  be  allowed  to  the  Prior,  and  eighty  pounds  to  the  sixteen  monks, 
for  their  due  support :  for  repairs  on  their  different  manors  he  assigned  40/., 
and  10/.  for  the  wages  of  servants,  besides  some  smaller  allowances  :  the 
remainder  he  appropriated  to  his  intended  building;  which  he  soon  after- 
wards commenced  at  a  short  distance,  westward,  from  the  old  Church,  the 
walls  of  which  were  standing  in  Leland's  time  J.  The  Bishop  pursued  the 
work  with  zeal,  "  and  declared,"  according  to  Wood,  "  his  disregard  to  any 
extraordinary  expense,  so  that  he  could  but  see  it  finished  ;  but  he  died 
before  the  south  and  west  parts  of  the  building  were  covered  in,  or  even  all 
the  walls  were  raised  to  their  proper  height  ||."  He  was  ably  assisted  by 
Prior  Birde,  who  carried  on  the  work  after  the  Bishop's  decease,  and 
built  a  monumental  chapel  for  himself  within  the  choir :  his  rebus,  a  W, 
and  a  Bird,  is  yet  to  be  seen  on  various  parts  of  the  edifice.  Warner,  in 
his  amplification  of  Wood's  statement,  says,  that  Birde's  liberality,  in  respect 
to  this  structure,  was  so  unbounded,  as  "  to  swallow  up  the  whole  of  his 
fortune,  and  reduce  him  to  poverty."    Wood's  account  is,  that  "  he  expended 


*  Harington's  "  Nugse  Antiquae,"  vol.  ii.  p.  136  — 138.  Park's  edition.  The  words  which 
the  worthy  knight  calls  French,  are  supposed  to  be  the  following  in  Latin,  being  a  translation 
of  the  English  lines  given  above : 

"  Jerunt  ligna  ut  ungerent  super  se  regem, 
Dixeruntque  Olivae,  impera  nobis." 

f  Warner's  "  History  of  Bath,"  Appendix,  No.  XLIX. 

X  "  Oliver  King  began  of  late  dayes  a  right  goodly  new  Chirch  at  the  west  part  of  the  old  Chirch 
of  St.  Peter,  and  finishid  a  great  peace  of  it.  The  residue  of  it  was  syns  made  by  the  Priors  of 
Bathe;  and  especially  by  Gibbes,  the  last  Prior  ther;  that  spent  a  great  summe  of  mony  on 
that  Fabricke. — Oliver  King  let  almost  al  the  old  Chirch  of  St.  Peter's,  in  Bath,  to  go  to  ruine : 
the  walles  yet  stande."    Itinerary,  vol.  ii.  p.  40  :  edit.  1744.  : 

||  "  Description  of  Bath,"  vol.  i.  p.  195. 


36  BATH  ABBEY  CHURCH. 

so  much  money  as  impoverished  him,  and  made  him  die  very  poor,"  in  May 
1525  * .     Prior  Holleweye,  alias  Gybbs,  continued  the  work ;  and,  according 

*  Prior  Birde,  on  the  authority  of  Ashmole,  is  commonly  reputed  to  have  applied  himself  to 
■the  study  of  chemistry,  or  rather  of  alchemy ;  but  a  comparison  of  dates  will  shew  that  Holleicexje 
must  have  been  the  person  really  meant,  for  he,  and  not  Birde,  was  Prior  of  Bath  at  the  time  of  the 
Dissolution.  The  chemical  knowledge  of  Prior  Holleweye  must  be  estimated  from  the  character  of 
the  age  in  which  he  lived.  Chemistry  had  not  then  attained  the  rank  of  a  science,  but  consisted 
merely  of  a  few  detached  facts,  relating  chiefly  to  the  properties  of  metallic  bodies,  and  a  vast 
mass  of  wild  speculation ;  accompanied  with  fallacious  instructions  for  forming  the  Elixir  of  Life, 
the  Philosopher's  Stone,  the  Universal  Panacea,  and  other  imaginary  preparations,  which  were 
supposed  to  possess  the  power  of  bestowing  on  the  industrious  Adept,  riches,  health,  and  long  life, 
if  not  immortality ;  but  which  uniformly  conducted  the  deluded  victim  of  false  science  to  poverty 
and  distress.  Such  is  said  to  have  been  the  fate  of  Our  Prior ;  of  whose  presumed  studies  and  mis- 
fortune? a  curious  account  is  preserved,  in  a  poetical  treatise  on  Alchemy,  published  by  Ashmole,  in 
his  "  Theatrum  Chemicum,"  P.  I.  This  piece  is  intituled  "  The  Breviary  of  Naturall  Philosophy, 
compiled  by  the  unlettered  scholar,  Thomas  Charnock,  the  first  of  January,  A.D.  1557."  Charnock 
professes  to  have  derived  a  considerable  part  of  his  knowledge  from  the  Prior  of  Bath,  of  whom  he 
thus  speaks : — 

"  And  now  to  obteyne  thy  purpose  more  rathe 

Let  thy  fire  be  as  temperate  as  the  Bath  of  the  Bathe. 
Oh  what  a  goodly  and  profitable  Instrument 
Is  the  Bath  of  the  Bathe  for  our  fiery  intent ! 
To  seeke  all  the  World  throughout  I  should  not  finde 
For  profit  and  liberty  a  Fire  more  fitt  to  my  minde. 
Goe  or  ride  where  you  list  for  the  space  of  a  yeare, 
Thou  needest  not  care  for  the  mending  of  thy  fire. 
A  Monke  of  Bathe,  which  of  that  house  was  Pryor, 
Tould  me  in  seacret  he  occupied  none  other  fire  ; 
To  whom  1  gave  credit,  even  at  the  first  season, 
Because  it  depended  upon  very  good  reason. 
He  had  our  Stone,  our  Medicine,  our  Elixir,  and  all 
Which  when  the  Abbie  was  supprest  he  hid  in  a  wall : 
And  ten  dayes  after  he  went  to  fetch  it  out, 
And  there  he  found  but  the  stople  of  a  cloute. 
Then  he  told  me  he  was  in  such  an  Agonie, 
That  for  the  loss  thereof  he  thought  he  should  be  frenzie  ; 
And  a  toy  took  him  in  the  head  to  run  such  a  race, 
That  many  a  yeare  after  he  had  no  setling  place  : 
•     And  more,  he  is  darke  and  cannot  see, 

But  hath  a  Boy  to  lead  him  through  the  country. . 
I  hapned  to  come  on  a  day  where  as  he  was, 
And  by  a  word  or  two  that  he  let  passe 


ITS  NEGLECTED  STATE.  37 

to  Leland,  "  spent  a  great  summe  of  mony  on  that  fabricke :"  but  all  the 
exertions  of  the  Prior  were  unable  to  carry  into  effect  the  liberal  design  of 
Bishop  King*.  A  great  change  had  taken  place  in  the  public  mind:  the 
Reformation  was  daily  gaining  ground,  and  the  dissolution  of  monastic  esta- 
blishments fast  approaching.  The  pious  zeal  which  had  raised  so  many 
splendid  ecclesiastical  edifices,  at  a  vast  expense,  was  rapidly  cooling ;  and 
but  little  aid  could  now  be  obtained  beyond  the  precincts  of  the  cloister.  On 
the  contrary,  part  of  the  lead,  intended  for  the  roof,  was  stolen,  and  the 
money,  which  had  been  collected  to  proceed  with  the  work,  was  intercepted 
by  profane  hands,  and  applied  to  secular  purposes^. 

It  is  not  unlikely  that  Bishop  King  had  fully  anticipated  the  gathering 
storm,  which  the  corruptions  of  the  Romish  church  had  engendered ;  and 
which,  though  in  some  instances  of  a  destructive  tendency,  was  happily  the 
means  of  freeing  this  country  from  Papal  tyranny  and  Catholic  imposition. — 
"  I  heard  by  one  Flowre  of  Phillips  Norton,"  says  Harington,  speaking  of 
the  new  Church,  that  '"  this  Bishop  would  wishe  he  had  paid  above  the 
price  of  it,  so  it  might  have  been  finisht,  for  if  he  ended  it  not  it  would  be 


I  understood  streight  he  was  a  Philosopher, 
For  which  cause  I  drewe  to  him  neare ; 
And  when  the  Company  was  all  gone, 
And  none  but  his  Boy  and  He  and  I  alone, 
Master,  quoth  I,  for  the  love  of  God  and  charity, 
Teach  me  the  seacrets  of  Naturall  Philosophy." 

Warner,  on  the  authority  of  Ashmole's  notes  to  this  poem,  says  that  Birde  "  died  poor  and 
blind;'  but  if  Charnock's  poetical  relation  be  correct,  it  must  be  concluded  that  both  Warner 
and  Ashmole  are  altogether  mistaken ;  and  that  Gybbs,  alias  Holleweye,  who  was  certainly  the  last 
Prior  of  Bath,  was  the  blind  and  unfortunate  Alchemist  with  whom  Charnock  formed  an  acquaint- 
ance, and  whose  skill  he  celebrates. 

*  "  Itinerary,"  ut  sup.  In  the  28th  of  Henry  the  Eighth,  Prior  Gybbs  granted  the  reversion  of 
the  office  for  life,  of  "  Master  of  all  the  Works"  of  the  Convent,  "  commonly  called  Freemasonry" 
to  John  Multon,  freemason,  in  reward  for  his  former  diligence  and  faithful  service ;  together  with 
an  annual  salary  of  forty  shillings.  Edward  Leycester,  Multon's  predecessor  in  that  office,-  is 
mentioned  in  the  same  grant.  Vide  Warner's  "  Bath,"  Appendix,  No.  LVIII.  It  is  remarkable, 
that  in  this  instrument  the  Holy  Saviour  is  named,  with  the  apostles  St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul,  as 
a  tutelar  of  the  Church  of  Bath,  ' 

f  "  Anglia  Sacra,"  pars  i.  p.  576:—"  quando  sacrilegi  quidam,  favente  temporis  iniquitate,- 
laminas  plumbeas  abripuerunt,  et  pecuniam  ad  opus  perficiendum  collectam  interverterunt," 


38  BATH  ABBEY  CHURCH. 

pulld  down  ere  it  were  perfected*."  From  the  same  author,  we  learn  that 
whilst  the  Church  was  yet  in  a  neglected  state,  and  "  since  the  43d  yeare 
of  Queene  Elizabeth,"  the  following  lines  "  were  written  by  an  English 
gentleman,"— probably  Harington  himself,  — "  on  the  church  wall  with  a 
charcoale :" — 

"  O  Church  !  I  waile  thy  wofull  plight, 

Whom  King  nor  Card'nall,  Clerke  nor  Knight, 
Have  yet  restor'd  to  auncient  right." 

Alluding  herein,  as  Fuller  has  remarked |,  "  to  Bishop  King,  who  began  it; 
and  his  four  successors,  in  thirty-five  years,  viz.  Cardinal  Adrian,  Cardinal 
Wolsey,  Bishop  Clark,  and  Bishop  Knight,  contributing  nothing  to  the  effectual 
finishing  thereof." 

After  the  surrender  of  the  monastery,  in  1539,  the  Commissioners,  says 
Harington,  "  in  reverence  and  compassion  of  the  place,  did  so  far  strayne 
their  commission  that  they  offerd  to  sell  the  whole  Church  to  the  towne 
under  500  marks  :  but  the  townsmen  fearing  they  might  be  thought  to  cosen 
the  King  if  they  bought  it  so  cheape,  or  that  it  might  after  (as  many  things 
were)  be  found  conceal'd,  utterly  refused.  Whereupon  certeine  Merchants 
bought  all  the  glass,  iron,  bells,  and  lead ;  of  which  lead  alone  was  accompted 
for  (as  I  have  crediblie  heard)  480  tunne,  worth  at  this  day  4,800/. J" 

Shortly  after  the  monastic  estates  had  been  granted  to  Humphry  Colles, 

*  "  Nugse  Antiquse,"  vol.  ii.  p.  139.     Bishop  King  died  on  the  24th  of  January,  1503-4. 

-f  "  Worthies  of  England,"  vol.  ii.  p.  277  :  edit.  1811.  On  some  other  lines,  which  Harington 
says  were  written  for  "  the  comfort  of  this  Church,  by  a  Captaine  of  an  other  contrie ;"  and  We 
thus  given  by  him  : 

"  Be  blythe,  faire  Kerk,  when  Hempe  is  past, 
Thine  Olyve,  that  ill  wynds  did  blast, 
Shall  flourish  green,  for  ay  to  last :" 

Fuller  remarks,  "  By  Hempe,  understand  Henry  the  Eighth,  .Edward  the  Sixth,  Queen  Mary,  King 
Philip,  and  Queen  .Elizabeth.  The  author,  as  I  suspect,  had  a  tang  of  the  cask ;  and  being  parcel- 
popish,  expected  the  finishing  of  this  Church  at  the  return  of  their  Religion ;  .but  his  prediction 
was  verified  in  a  better  sense,  when  this  Church  was  finished  by  James  Montague,  Bishop  of  this 
See,  disbursing  vast  sums  in  the  same,  though  the  better  enabled  thereunto  by  his  Mines  at  Mynedep, 
so  that  he  did  but  remove  the  seed  from  the  bowels  of  the  earth  to  the  roof  of  the  Church  ; 
wherein  he  lies  enterred  under  a  fair  Monument."  Ibid.  p.  278, 
X  "  Nugae  Antiquse,"  vol.  ii.  p.  141, 


REPARATIONS.  39 

as  before  stated,  that  gentleman  disposed  of  the  site  and  buildings  of  the 
Priory  to  Matthew  Colthurst,  Esq. ;  whose  son  Edmund,  immediately  after 
the  decease  of  his  father,  in  the  beginning  of  the  year  1560,  "  made  the 
city  a  present  of  the  carcass  of  St.  Peter's  church,  with  the  ground  upon 
the  east,  west,  and  north  sides  of  it  * ;"  and  the  whole  is  still  the  property 
of  the  Corporation.  The  Abbey  House,  which  had  been  the  residence,  in 
succession,  both  of  the  Abbots  and  Priors,  and  which  stood  on  the  south 
of  the  Church,  together  with  its  immediate  precincts,  tenements,  appur- 
tenances, &c,  in  Bath,  and  the  Prior's  Park,  near  Combe  Down,  were  sold 
by  the  said  Edmund  Colthurst,  on  the  27th  of  January,  1569,  to  Fulk  Morley, 
Esq.,  from  whom  the  Abbey  estate  has  descended  through  the  late  Duke 
of  Kingston  to  the  present  Earl  Manvers.  The  Prior's  Park  estate  is  now 
the  property  of  John  Thomas,  a  quaker,  who  purchased  it  of  the  representatives 
of  the  late  Lord  Hawarden,  to  whom  it  had  devolved  from  the  Aliens  f. 

The  first  attempt  to  improve  the  state  of  this  Church  after  the  Dissolution, 
was  made  by  a  military  officer,  named  Peter  Chapman,  who  was  the  eldest  son 
of  a  clothier,  mentioned  by  Leland,  by  whom,  "  in  hominum  memorial  with 
two  others  in  the  same  trade,  of  the  names  of  Style  and  Kent,  "  the  Toun  of 
Bath  florishidj."  He  was  born  in  1506,  and  having  served  in  the  wars  in 
France  and  the  Low  Countries,  in  the  reigns  of  Henry  the  Eighth  and 
Queen  Elizabeth,  he  attained  to  the  rank  of  a  Serjeant  Major,  and  when 
in  his  82d  year,  in  1588,  led  a  brigade  of  800  veteran  soldiers  to  Tilbury 
Camp  || .  This  gentleman  repaired  the  east  end  of  the  north  aile,  about  the 
year  1572;  and  soon  afterwards  the  Queen's  letters  patent  were  obtained, 
authorising  collections  to  be  made  for  seven  years  in  every  part  of  the 
Kingdom,  for  the  completion  of  this  Church,  and  the  rebuilding  of  St.  John's 
Hospital.  With  the  produce,  the  latter  purpose  was  effected ;  but  all  that 
was  done  to  the  Church,  was  by  erecting  a  timber  roof,  covered  with  blue 
slate,  over  the  east,  the  north,  and  some  of  the  south  part  of  the  fabric, 


*  Wood's  "  Description  of  Bath,"  vol.  i.  p.  199. 

t  The  present  mansion  at  Prior  Park  was  built  by  Wood,  for  Mr.  Allen,  the  amiable  prototype 
of  Fielding's  Airworthy,  and  was,  during  the  life  of  its  first  possessor,  frequently  occupied  by  the 
most  distinguished  wits  of  the  age.  It  may  be  said  to  have  been  the  Attic  seat  of  Genius :  but 
it  has  lately  presented  a  lamentable  contrast.  Part  of  this  finely  picturesque  estate  is  now  a 
stone  quarry. 

\  "  Itinerary,"  vol.  ii.  p.  39  :  2d  edit. 

]|  Wood's  "  Description  of  Bath,"  vol.  i.  p.  201 :  from  Chapman's  Epitaph. 


BATH  ABBEY  CHURCH. 

and  roofing  and  flooring  the  tower*."  The  uppermost  windows  on  the  north 
side  of  the  choir  were  glazed,  at  the  expense  of  Thomas,  Earl  of  Sussex, 
Lord  Chamberlain  to  Queen  Elizabeth,  prior  to  1584 ;  and  10/.  was  given 
towards  the  glazing  of  the  opposite  windows,  by  Walter  Calicut  of  Williamscote, 
in  Oxfordshire.  The  work  then  stopped  for  several  years,  nor  was  j  it  again 
proceeded  with  till  some  time  after  the  defeat  of  the  Spanish  Armada,  when, 
from  the  liberality  of  Lord  Burleigh,  and  Thomas  Bellot,  or  Billet,  Esq.,  his 
steward,  and  afterwards  his  executor,  the  choir  was  inclosed,  and  fitted  up  for 
Divine  service;  the  latter  gentleman  f  having  been  at  the  expense  of  60/. 
for  repairing  and  glazing  the  great  east  window  only.  The  Church  was  then 
re-consecrated,  and  dedicated  to  St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul. 

The  south  part  of  the  transept,  and  most  of  the  nave,  were  still  unroofed^ 


*  Wood's  "  Description  of  Bath,"  vol.  i.  p.  201.  It  appears,  both  from  Camden's  account,  and 
from  a  letter  of  Sir  John  Harington's,  published  in  his  "  Metamorphosis  of  Ajax,"  or  a  Jakes, 
in  1596,  that  some  part  of  the  money  which  had  been  collected  by  means  of  the  Queen's  brief,  had 
been  improperly  diverted  to  private  uses.  Queen  Elizabeth  had  been  twice  at  Bath,  and  had 
given  directions  for  the  improvement  of  the  baths,  &c.  Speaking  of  her  first  visit,  prior  to  1591, 
Harington  says — "  The  fair  Church  her  Highnesse  gave  order  should  be  re-edified  stands  at  a 
stay,  &c.  Wherefore  if  your  Lordship  [probably  Lord  Burleigh]  would  authorise  me,  or  some 
wiser  than  me,  to  take  a  strict  account  of  the  money  by  her  Majesty's  gracious  grants  gathered 
and  to  be  gathered,  which,  in  the  opinion  of  manie,  cannot  be  lesse  than  ten  thousand  pounds, 
{though  not  to  wrong  them,  I  thinke  they  have  bestowed  upon  the  point  of  10,000  pounds, 
abating  but  one  cipher,)  I  would  not  doubt,  of  a  ruinate  Church  to  make  a  reverent  Church,  and 
of  an  unsavorie  town  a  most  sweet  town."     Ibid.  pp.  75,  76. 

t  The  following  passage  relative  to  this  generous  benefactor  to  the  Abbey  Church,  is  extracted 

from  an  article  in  Peck's  "  Desiderata  Curiosa,"  No.  IV.  lib.  vi.  intituled — "  The  Observations 

of  Mr.  John  Bowles,  Chaplain  to  the  Lord  Treasurer,  Sir  Rob.   Cecill,  Earl  of  Salisbury,  as  to 

the  carriage  of  the  said  Earl  in  his  last  sickness,  after  he  went  from  London  to  Bath,  until  the 

time  of  his  death ;  being  a  true  copy  of  the  account  which  the  said  Mr.  Bowles  delivered  unto  the 

right  reverend  James  Montague,  Lord  Bishop  of  Bath  and  Wells." — "  This  daie  my  lord  removed 

his  lodginge,  and  was  desirous  to  see  the  great  Church  in  Bathe,  where  ould  master  [Thomas] 

Bellot  [his  father's  steward,  and  one  of  his  executors]  had  bestowed  some  money  of  his  father's, 

committed  to  his  trust ;  and  a  great  part  likewise  of  his  owne  substance.     The  Church  he  much 

liked,  and  the  liberalities  of  such  benefactors  as  had  brought  it  to  soe  good  perfection.     Addinge, 

'  that  he  would  himself  bestowe  some  good  remembrance  to  the  fynishing  thearof.'     And  (because 

oulde  Mr.  Bellot  had  spent  all  uppon  charitable  uses,  and  left  nothinge  for  his  kinsman,)  my  lord-, 

in  the  Churche,  saide,  '  I  give  to  my  servant  Bellot  201.  a  yeare,  duringe  his  naturall  life.'"     Lord 

Salisbury  had  visited  Bath,  in  the  hope  of  deriving  benefit  from  the  waters.     He  expressed  a  wish 

to  be  interred  in  the  Abbey  Church,  in  case  of  his  death  happening  at  Bath  :  but  after  a  short 

stay  in  that  city,  he  was  removed  to  Marlborough,  wheTe  he  died,  May  24,  1612. 


PROGRESS  OF  THE  CHURCH.  41 

and  otherwise  incomplete;  and  in  this  state  they  remained  till  about  the 
accession  of  James  the  First,  when  Mr.  Bellot  contributed  a  further  sum  of 
200/.  towards  finishing  the  transept:  in  1604,  Sir  William  Paston,  of  Nor- 
folk, knt.,  gave  100/.,  and  smaller  contributions  were  made  by  divers  persons ; 
yet  the  work  went  but  slowly  forwards  till  after  the  promotion  of  Dr.  James 
Montague  to  this  See,  in  March  1608.  The  situation  of  the  Church  at 
that  period  may  be  readily  appreciated  from  Harington's  account  of  Bishop 
King :  — "  Thus  speedily  it  was  pull'd  down,"  says  the  worthy  knight, 
"  but  how  slow  it  hath  rysen  again,  I  may  blush  to  wryte.  Collections 
have  bene  made  over  all  England,  with  which  the  chauncell  is  covered  with 
blew  slate,  and  an  alms-house  built,  ex  abundantia ;  but  the  whole  body  of 
the  Church  stands  bare,  ex  humilitate.  The  rest  of  the  money  never  comming 
to  the  townsmen's  hands,  is  laid  up  (as  I  suppose)  with  the  money  col- 
lected for  Paul's  steeple,  which  I  leave  to  a  melius  inquirendum.  And  thus 
the  Church  lies  still,  like  the  poore  traveller  mentioned  in  the  10th  of  Luke, 
spoiled  and  wounded  by  theeves.  The  Priest  goes  by,  the  Levites  go  by, 
but  doe  nothing :  only  a  good  Samaritan,  honest  Mr.  Billet  (worthy  to  be 
billeted  in  the  New  Jerusalem,)  hath  powr'd  some  oyle  in  the  wounds,  and 
maintained  it  in  life*." — 

Sir  John  Harington,  who  was  the  godson  and  kinsman  of  Queen  Elizabeth, 
and  whose  mansion  was  at  Kelston,  near  Bath,  was  particularly  solicitous  to 
procure  aid  to  complete  the  Church ;  and  there  is  a  tradition  extant,  that 
Bishop  Montague  was  led  to  direct  his  bounty  into  that  channel,  by  the 
knight's  ready  conception  and  address ;  as  thus  :  —  Whilst  the  Bishop  was 
at  Bath,  walking  in  the  Grove,  on  his  primary,  visitation,  he  was  suddenly 
caught  in  a  violent  shower,  which  induced  him,  on  the  invitation  of  Sir 
John,  to  seek  shelter  in  the  Church.  The  knight  took  him  into  the  north 
aile,  which  being  entirely  roofless,  afforded  but  little  security  from  the  storm  ; 
and  Bishop  Montague  remarked,  that  they  were  still  in  the  rain.  "  How 
can  that  be,"  returned  Harington,  "  seeing  that  we  are  within  the  Church?" 
"  True,"  quoth  the  Prelate,  "  but  your  Church  is  unroofed,  Sir  John." 
"  The  more  is  the  pity!"  rejoined  his  shrewd  companion ;  "  and  the  more 
doth  it  call   for   the   munificence   of  your  lordship  f."      Struck    with   the 

*  "  Nugse  Antiquse,"  vol.  ii.  p.  142. 

t  In  the  Preface  to  the  "  Nugse  Antiquse,"  this  is  somewhat  differently  stated.  On  the  Bishop 
remarking,  that  his  situation  did  not  shelter  him  from  the  rain,  the  Knight  is  made  to  reply — 
"  Doth  it  not,  my  Lord  ?     Then  let  me  sue  your  bounty  towards  covering  our  poor  Church ; 

G 


42  BATH  ABBEY  CHURCH. 

justness  of  the  remark,  the  Bishop  is  said  to  have  directed  his  attention  to 
the  fabric  from  that  moment,  and  under  his  generous  auspices  the  building 
was  eventually  finished. 

Whatever  degree  of  credit  may  be  thought  due  to  this  traditionary  report, 

for  if  it  keep  not  us  safe  from  the  waters  above,  how  shall  it  ever  save  others  from  the  fire 
beneath?"     Ibid.  p.  xvii. 

The  assistance  of  Mr.  Sutton,  (the  benevolent  founder  of  the  present  establishment  at  the 
Charter  House,  in  London,)  towards  the  completion  of  the  Abbey  Church,  was  strenuously  solicited 
by  Sir  J.  Harington,  as  will  appear  by  the  following  passages  from  different  letters  to  him.  In  a 
letter,  dated  "  Greenwich,  13th  June,  1608,"  Sir  John  says  :  — 

"  Onlie  my  old  friend,  you  may  not  forgett  to  be  a  benefactor  to  Bath  Church  in  your  life- 
time ;  for  Alms  in  one's  life  is  like  a  light  borne  before  one,  whereas  Alms  after  death  is  like  a 
candle  carried  behind  one.  Do  somewhat  for  this  Church  :  you  promis't  to  have  seen  it  ere 
this.  Whensoever  you  will  go  to  Bathe,  my  lodgings  shall  be  at  your  commandmente.  The 
Baths  would  strengthen  your  sinews ;  the  Alms  would  comfort  your  soule.  The  Tower,  the 
Quyre,  and  two  Isles,  are  already  finisht  by  Mr.  Billett,  Executor  to  the  worthie  Lord  Treasurer 
Burleigh.  The  Walls  are  up,  ready  for  covering;  the  Leade  is  promised  by  our  bountifull  Bishop 
Dr.  Montague;  the  Timber  is  promised  by  the  Earl  of  Shrewsburie,  the  Earle  of  Hartford,  the 
Lord  Say,  Mr.  Robert  Hopton,  and  others.  There  lacks  but  monie  for  Workmanship,  which  if 
you  would  give,  you  should  have  many  good  prayers  in  the  Church  now  in  your  lifetime,  when  they 
may  indeed  doe  you  good,  and  when  the  time  is  to  '  make  friends  of  the  mammon  of  iniquity,  (as 
Christ  bids  us,)  that  we  may  be  received  into  everlasting  tabernacles ;'  to  which  God  send  us,  to 
whose  protection  I  leave  you."     Ibid.  vol.  i.  pp.  378,  379. 

In  another  letter,  dated  Sept.  5th,  1608,  he  again  urges  Mr.  Sutton  to  alms-giving;  and  after 
stating  that  he  would  keep  his  lodgings,  at  Bath,  whilst  there  remained  any  hope  of  his  coming 
thither,  he  adds,  — "  You  rich  men  should  open  your  barnes ;  give,  lend,  distribute  to  the  poore, 
and  lay  up  threfold  in  Heaven ;  ffayth  ys  good,  hope  ys  good,  but  charity  ys  the  cheefer,  '  major 
horum  caritas.'" — He  next  mentions  various  persons  then  residing  at  Bath;  and  among  them, 
"  Saynt  Billet,  the  benefactor  of  this  Church,  and  founder  of  the  new  Hospitall  for  lame  Pilgrims  ; 
and  concludes  —  I  can  let  you  have  honest  roome,  and  cost  mee  never  a  peny."  Malcolm's 
"  Londinium  Redivivum,"  vol.  i.  p.  399. 

In  a  third  letter,  written  on  the  day  of  his  quitting  London,  (Dec.  21,  1608,)  he  once  more 
presses  Mr.  Sutton  to  visit  Bath,  "  and  when  you  see  the  place,"  he  continues,  "  and  fynde 
(as  I  wysh)  that  God  geve  you  helth,  then  let  God  work  w*.  you  for  the  good  of  the  Church 
and  Poore  thear,  by  whose  prayr  yor.  lyfe  and  helth  may  bee  continewd  yet  seavn  yeer  at  least, — 
and  so  I  will  end  wth.  this  distich,  that  my  father  taught  mee  above  40  yeer  since : 

In  doing  good  use  no  delay, 

For  tyme  ys  swift  and  slydes  away." 

As  Mr.  Sutton's  name  does  not  appear  in  the  list  of  benefactors,  it  is  most  probable  that  his 
increasing  infirmities,  and  many  cares  respecting  his  foundation  at  the  Charter  House,  prevented 
his  purposed  visit  to  Bath  :  he  died  on  the  12th  of  December,  1611. 


ACCOUNT  OF  BISHOP  MONTAGUE.  43 

we  have  a  more  certain  evidence  of  Sir  John's  endeavour  to  engage  the  Bishop 
to  complete  this  edifice,  in  a  brief  memorandum  under  his  own  hand,  namely : 
— "  Havinge  longe  waitede  for  our  goode  Bishope  to  visite  his  poore  sheepe 
and  rotten  folde,  I  rubbede  my  braines  for  suche  rustie  Latine  as  might 
remaine  therein,  and  was  bent  to  meete  him  at  the  place  of  visitation ;  and 
being  well  encouraged  to  speak  roundelye  for  his  service,  to  helpe  us  on 
in  restoringe  our  Churche  to  its  olde  state,  or  rather  to  a  new  state  of  bewtie ; 
after  all  was  ended,  and  his  benedictions  given,  I  began  with  my  own  "  Sis 
nobiscum,  H&mine"  and  started  up  in  the  Church  isle  with  my  Poetrye,  or 
rather  Historie  ;  for  I  sought  not  to  give  it  the  flower,  but  lookede  more  for 
the  goode  fruit  that  mighte  come  of  my  spare  sowinge.  Herein  I  faylede 
not,  and  though  some  mighte  thinke  me  too  bolde,  it  was  to  make  others 
somewhate  bountifull :  the  Bishope  seemed  not  ill  pleasede,  and  answerede 
me  in  suche  sorte  as  made  me  think  verie  well  of  him,  and  perchance  not 
too  ill  of  myselfe*."  The  Bishop's  reply  was — "  Cupivi  diu,  has  ruinas, 
et  haec  rudera,  videre  et  contemplari ;  has  vero  ruinas  et  hsec  rudera,  videre 
et  contemplari,  jam  dolet :  Ingrediar  tamen,  sed  hoc  animo,  ut  nunquam,  hoc 
more,  sim  reingressurus,  prius  quam  isthasc  melius  tecta  viderof-" 

*  Vide  Warner's  "  History  of  Bath,"  p.  159.  Note.  The  Knight's  Poem  was  first  published 
in  1679,  by  Guidott,  in  his  Appendix  to  Dr.  Jorden's  "  Discourse  of  Natural  Baths;"  and  again, 
in  his  "  Discourse  of  Bath,"  with  a  translation,  but  of  little  merit.  The  Poem  is  intituled—"  Con- 
ditioner varies  Ecclesia  Sancti  Petri  et  Pauli  Bathoniensis,  d  primis  Fundamentis  jactis,  anno  775,  ad 
annum  decurrentem  1609,  Historico-Poetica  E?nyiw(;;  deque  fcelicissima  ejusdem  Fcclesiee  restaura- 
tione,  Vaticinium." 

f  Although  Sir  J.  Harington  may  claim  the  merit  of  having  called  forth  the  liberality  of 
Bishop  Montague,  much  must  be  attributed  to  the  natural  generosity  of  disposition  which  cha- 
racterised that  Prelate;  for  he  not  only  bestowed  a  thousand  pounds  towards  the  completion  of 
the  Abbey  Church,  but  also  expended  considerable  sums  in  repairing  and  decorating  the  episcopal 
palaces  of  Wells  and  Banwell,  and  the  cathedral  of  Wells.  He  was  descended  from  the  family  of 
the  Montagues,  or  Montacutes,  Earls  of  Salisbury.  Being  educated  at  Cambridge,  he  became 
Master  of  Sydney  College.  He  was  afterwards  made  Dean  of  Worcester,  and  next  promoted 
to  this  See,  whence,  in  1616,  he  was  translated  to  Winchester :  he  died  in  the  latter  city,  about 
two  years  afterwards,  but  was  interred  at  Bath.  Bishop  Montague  is  known  in  the  literary  world 
as  the  translator  of  the  works  of  James  the  First  into  Latin.  A  copy  of  this  edition,  (published 
in  1616,)  splendidly  bound  in  velvet  and  gold,  with  the  royal  arms  embossed  on  the  cover,  was 
given  to  the  University  of  Cambridge  by  the  King  himself,  and  is  still  preserved  in  the  Public 
Library.  The  Bishops  of  this  See,  in  the  reigns  of  Elizabeth  and  James  the  First,  derived  vast 
sums  from  their  lead-mines,  near  Mendip.  Of  this  abundant  crop,  Bishop  Still  is  said  to  have 
had  the  harvest ;  Bishop  Montague,  the  gleanings ;  and  Lake,  who  filled  the  See  after  him,  the 
stubble ;  "  and  yet,"  says  Fuller,  "  considerable  was  the  profit  to  him  and  his  successors."  Vide 
"  Worthies,"  in  Somersetshire.  Dyer, 


44  BATH  ABBEY  CHURCH. 

Bishop  Montague  commenced  the  new  work  by  a  donation  of  1000/.,  and 
his  generous  example  occasioned  many  other  persons  to  subscribe  liberally 
towards  the  furtherance  of  the  design,  so  that  the  fabric  of  the  Church  was 
entirely  completed  about  the  period  at  which  this  munificent  prelate  was 
translated  to  Winchester;  which  was  on  the  4th  of  October,  1616.  His 
brother,  Sir  Henry  Montague,  knt.,  Lord  Chief  Justice  of  the  King's  Bench, 
was  at  the  charge  of  embellishing  the  great  west  doors ;  and  the  Vestry  was 
built  by  Sir  Nicholas  Salterns,  knt.,  of  London*:  the  latter  building,  though 
attached  to  the  wall  of  the  Abbey  Church,  is  actually  in  the  parish  of 
St.  James.  The  expenses  of  the  paving,  glazing,  fittings  up,  &c,  were 
defrayed  by  different  individuals,  many  of  whom  had  been  induced  to  display 
their  bounty  thus  by  the  Rev.  John  Pelling,  rector  of  Bath ;  and  the  Corpora- 
tion, from  a  grateful  regard  for  his  services,  erected,  in  the  year  1621,  a 
monument  to  his  memory,  in  the  north  aile. 

It  will  not  be  necessary  to  notice  the  various  minor  repairs  and  altera- 
tions which  have  been  since  made  ;  but  a  considerable  improvement  has  been 
recently  effected  in  the  outward  appearance  of  this  Church,  as  well  as  a  per- 
manent advantage  obtained,  by  the  pulling  clown  of  some  buildings  which  had 
long  obstructed  the  complete  view  of  its  architectural  features  towards  the 
north t;  and  which  had  probably  been  erected  against  it  when  a  mere  shell, 


Dyer,  in  his  notices  of  this  prelate,  published  in  his  "  History  of  the  University  and  Colleges 
of  Cambridge,"  1814,  8vo.  vol.  i.  p.  105;  and  vol.  ii.  p.  427;  has  committed  more  than  one 
mistake.  He  calls  him  Henry  Montague,  and  states  that  he  "  was  first  Bishop  of  Bath  and 
Wells,  then  of  Winchester,  translated  at  length  to  Worcester,  and  lies  buried  in  the  cathedral 
church." — The  passages  marked  in  italics  are  obviously  erroneous. 

*  The  names  of  the  principal  benefactors,  with  various  minute  particulars  concerning  the 
progress  of  the  work,  will  be  seen  in  the  Appendix,  No.  V. 

t  The  adoption  of  this  measure  has  been  occasioned  by  various  circumstances,  among  which 
may  be  included  the  inquiries  and  comments  of  antiquaries  and  literary  men.  The  exhortations 
of  the  Rev.  Francis  Skurray,  in  a  Sermon  preached  in  the  Abbey  Church,  in  1816,  and  since 
published,  must  also  have  had  some  influence  on  the  corporate  members. 

"  I  scruple  not  to  call  your  attention,"  says  Mr.  Skurray,  "  to  another  local,  and  what 
many  will  deem  an  unsuitable,  subject  of  consideration,  not  as  to  what  regards  police,  but  embel- 
lishment. If  the  prediction,  '  the  crooked  shall  be  made  straight,  and  the  rough  places  plain,' 
(Isaiah  xi.  4.)  was  to  be  among  '  the  signs  of  the  times,'  in  its  literal  acceptation,  where  should 
we  find  its  more  complete  development  than  in  this  elegantly  constructed  city  ? 

"  But  there  is  one  alteration,  one  improvement  still  wanting,  which,  in  its  connexion  with 
religion,  is  not  unworthy  of  recommendation  from  a  place  that  is  occupied  by  the  ambassador 
of  God. 

"  We  are  at  this  moment  assembled  within  a  Temple  whose  vaulted  roof  has  for  centuries 


RECENT  IMPROVEMENTS.  45 

or  ruin,  in  the  possession  of  Colles,  or  of  Colthurst.  Those  houses  the 
Corporation  of  Bath  determined,  not  long  since,  to  remove  ;  and  it  is  un- 
derstood that  Earl  Manvers,  the  proprietor  of  some  buildings  attached  to 
the  south  wall  of  the  Church,  has  consented  to  have  those  removed  also. 
As  the  first  fruits  of  this  determination  of  the  corporate  body,  a  large  house, 
which  stood  in  the  angle  formed  by  the  choir  of  the  Church,  and  the  north 
limb,  or  transept,  was  taken  down  in  March  1823;  thus  opening  to  the  Grove 
a  pleasing  view  of  a  part  of  the  fabric  which  had  been  long  concealed.  This 
has  been  followed  by  the  removal  of  two  houses  which  joined  the  north  wall 
of  the  Church  towards  the  west  end.  It  might  have  been  expected  that 
more  of  Oliver  King's  architectural  fancies  would  have  been  here  brought 
to  light,  as  the  houses  covered  parts  of  the  building  close  to  the  richly 
adorned  west  end ;  but  this  has  not  been  the  case,  the  walls  being  found 
perfectly  plain.  The  arched,  or  flying  buttresses,  in  this  part  of  the  Church, 
as  conjectured  by  some  persons,  have  been  cut  away  for  the  sake  of  the 
materials,  the  upper  parts  of  the  masonry   being  yet  visible  ;    but  it  is  far 

reverberated  wit'i  '  Hallelujah,  for  the  Lord  God  Omnipotent  reigneth.'  (Rev.  xix.  6.)  We  are 
assembled  within  walls  which  inclose  the  ashes  of  piety  and  heroism  from  remote  ages  of  antiquity. 
But  how  does  it  offend  the  eye  of  taste  when  we  consider  its  beautiful  exterior  screened  from  public 
view  by  crowded  and  incongruous  deformities! 

"  If  it  be  true,  as  a  certain  poet  sings,  that  the  mind  receives  from  external  circumstances  '  a 
secret,  sympathetic  aid  ;'  then  a  view  of  this  disencumbered  Temple,  rising  from  the  consecrated 
ground  in  finished  proportions,  would  have  a  beneficial  operation  on  the  mind  of  man.  It  would 
arrest  the  eye  of  the  invalid,  as  he  paused  in  his  passage  to  yon  salubrious  springs  ;  it  would 
soften  his  heart  to  devotional  sensibility  ;  it  would  raise  it  in  secret  breathings  to  the  Great 
Physician  of  Souls  to  bless  their  waters  as  instruments  of  his  recovery.  Nay,  an  indifferent 
person  could  not  pass  by  without  sentiments  of  awe,  without  a  desire  of  becoming  '  wise  unto 
salvation,'  (2  Tim.  iii.  15,)  without  an  aspiration,  an  effort  to  qualify  himself,  in  order  to  dwell 
one  day  in  a  building  of  God,  '  a  house  not  made  with  hands,  eternal  in  the  heavens.'  (2  Cor. 
v.  1.) 

•'  But  if  you  deny  the  doctrine  of  the  association  of  ideas,  and  of  mental  impression  through 
the  medium  of  the  senses,  then  effect  the  removal  of  unsightly  incumbrances,  through  a  feeling 
of  propriety  and  decorum.  If  expense  be  cheerfully  incurred  in  beautifying  places  of  dissenting 
worship,  '  shall  parsimony  be  suffered  to  obscure  the  polished  corners  of  the  temple?'  (Psalm 
cxliv.  12.)  Shall  improvements  appear  in  every  street  and  in  every  receptacle  of  fashion,  and  the 
house  of  God  be  the  solitary  exception  ?  Oh  !  furnish  in  these  days  of  lukewarmness  a  practical 
illustration  to  your  fellow-citizens,  that  you  love  '  the  habitation  of  God's  house,  and  the  place 
where  his  honour  dwelleth.'  (Psalm  xxvi.  8.)  Oh  !  disregard  not  the  voice  of  him  who  crietfa, 
'  Prepare  ye  the  way  of  the  Lord,  make  straight  a  highway  for  our  God.'  (Isaiah,  xl.  3.)"  Vide 
"  Sermons,"  &c,  by  the  Rev.  F.  Skurray,  M.A.,  p.  186.    1817. 


46>  BATH  ABBEY  CHURCH. 

more  probable  that  they  were  never,  finished.  Considering  the  lightness  of 
the  vaulting  of  the  nave  in  comparison  with  that  of  the  choir,  we  may 
conclude  that  the  former  work  did  not  require  the  aid  of  flying  buttresses, 
although  the  original  architect  had  prepared  for  their  construction,  in  case 
a  stone  vaulting  and  heavy  roof  had  been  adopted.  Much  credit  is  due 
to  the  present  Corporation  for  the  alterations  they  have  made,  and  are 
now  making,  to  improve  the  exterior  appearance  of  this  edifice. 

The  whole  of  the  monastic  buildings  which  were  attached  to  this  Church 
have  been  destroyed ;  but  their  site  is  yet  pointed  out  by  the  Kingston,  or 
Abbey  Baths,  which  derive  their  waters  from  the  same  spring  that  supplied 
the  Thermce  constructed  on  this  very  spot  by  the  Romans.  For  our  know- 
ledge of  this  circumstance  we  are  indebted  to .  the  discoveries  made  in  the 
year  1755,  when  the  old  Priory,  or  Abbey-house,  was  pulled  down  to  make 
way  for  new  erections.  On  that  occasion,  "  in  digging  out  the  ancient 
foundation  of  the  priory,  about  eight  feet  below  the  surface  of  the  earth, 
the  workmen  found  several  rough-hewn  stone  coffins,  with  the  seemingly 
entire,  but  mouldering  remains  of  human  bodies,  of  different  ages  and  sexes, 
and  several  pieces  of  coin  of  successive  Saxon  kings*;"  and,  "  three  or  four 
feet  below  the  burying-place  of  the  Saxons,  were  discovered  some  cavities 
which  led  to  the  remains  of  several  very  noble  Roman  baths  and  suda- 
tories, constructed  on  elegant  plans,  with  floors  suspended  [sustained  ?]  upon 
square  brick  pillars,  and  surrounded  with  tubulated  bricks  f."  From  the 
more  particular  and  discriminating  account  of  these  Roman  remains,  given 
by  Dr.  Lucas  J,  and  afterwards  amplified  by  Dr.  Sutherland  ||,  who  has 
illustrated  his  description  by  a  ground-plan,  it  seems  that  the  baths  formed 
a  part  of  a  magnificent  building,  consisting  of  a  centre  and  two  wings, 
disposed  into  numerous  apartments,  and  covering  an  area  of  260  feet  from 
east  to  west,  and  120  feet  from  north  to  south.  But  although  it  is  stated, 
both  by  Whitaker  §  and  Warner  ^[,  that  a  western  wing  has  been  discovered, 
"  exactly  tallying"  with  the  eastern  one  described  by  the  above  writers, 
(and  of  course  establishing  the  conjectures  of  Sutherland,)  yet  it  appears 
that   this  affirmed  exploration  of  another  wing  rests  on  questionable  autho- 


*  "  Original  Bath  Guide,"  p.  5.  t  Ibid. 

%  "  Essay  on  Mineral  Waters,"  p.  3. 

11  "  Attempts  to  revive  Ancient  Medical  Doctrines,"  p.  1. 

§  "  Anti-Jacobin  Review,"  vol.  x.  p.  127.  1T  "  New  Guide  through  Bath,"  p.  29. 


ARMS  IN  THE  MONK'S  PARLOUR.  47 

rity.  Whitaker  has  strongly  argued,  that  these  remains  were  part  of  the 
Prcttorium,  or  Palatial  residence  of  the  Roman  Commandant  of  this  city  ;  and 
that  it  afterwards  became  the  palace  of  the  Saxon  kings,  under  whom  a 
portion  of  the  building  "  had  been  converted  into  a  chapel  and  a  burying- 
place." 

Collinson  says,  at  the  period  the  Abbey-house  was  rendered  again  habi- 
table, some  time  after  the  Dissolution,  that  parts  of  it,  such  as  "  obso- 
lete offices  and  obscure  rooms  and  lofts, "  were  left  in  their  former  state, 
and  never  occupied  after  their  desertion  by  the  monks.  On  "  pulling 
down  some  of  these  buildings,"  he  continues,  in  the  beginning  of  the  last 
century,  "  one  of  the  apartments,  which  had  been  walled  up,  disclosed  a 
very  curious  and  interesting  sight.  Round  the  walls  upon  pegs  were  hung, 
as  in  a  vestry-room  —  which  the  place  undoubtedly  was  —  the  copes,  albs, 
chesibles,  and  other  garments  of  the  religious ;  which,  on  the  admission  of 
the  air,  became  so  rotten  as  to  crumble  into  powder.  There  was  also 
found  the  handle  of  a  crosier;  and  on  the  floor  lay  two  large  chests, 
without  any  contents,  as  it  was  alleged  by  the  workmen ;  one  of  whom, 
however,  grew  rich  upon  the  occasion,  and  retired  from  business*."  He 
also  mentions  the  following  arms,  as  being  in  the  window  of  a  parlour  in 
the  monks'  lodgings,  viz. :  "1.  Argent,  an  Eagle  rising,  Or:  Prior  Cantlow. 
2.  A  Chevron  between  three  Eagles  displayed,  on  a  Chief  a  Rose  inter 
two  Lozenges,  over  all  a  Mitre  and  Crozier:  Prior  Birde.  3.  Party  per 
Pale,  indented,  Gules  and  Or ;  a  Chevron  of  the  last :  Impaling  Sable,  two 
Bars  Argent,  in  Chief  three  Plates  :  Hungerford  ."f 

*  "  History  of  Somersetshire,"  vol.  i.  p.  58. 

t  It  appears  from  the  "  Hungerfordiana"  of  Sir  Richard  C.  Hoare,  that  after  the  marriage  of 
Walter  de  Hungerford  with  Maud  de  Heytesbury,  the  Hungerfords  assumed  the  arms  of  her 
family,  viz.  Per  Pale,  indented,  Gules  and  Vert;  a  Chevron  Or.  There  seems,  therefore,  to  be 
an  error  in  the  blazonment  of  the  above  arms  as  given  by  Collinson.  After  the  marriage  of 
another  Walter  de  Hungerford,  in  the  time  of  Edward  the  Third,  with  Elizabeth,  daughter  and 
heiress  of  Sir  Adam  Fitz-John,  of  Cherill,  in  Wiltshire,  some  of  the  Hungerfords  took  the  arms  of 
Fitz-John;  namely,  Sable,  two  Bars  Argent,  in  Chief  three  Plates,  as  described  in  the  text;  but 
many  of  the  family  continued  to  bear  those  of  Heytesbury. 


CHAPTER  IV. 


FEATURES  OF  THE  CITY  OF  BATH ARCHITECTURAL  DESCRIPTION  OF    THE  CHURCH; 

WITH  REFERENCES  TO  THE  ACCOMPANYING   PRINTS. 

It  is  difficult  to  render  descriptive  language  on  Architectural  subjects  either 
amusing  or  interesting.  Unaided  by  engravings,  it  generally  fails  to  be 
specific  or  intelligible ;  but  when  accompanied  by  correct  pictorial  delinea- 
tions, a  writer  must  be  dull  indeed  who  fails  to  make  his  own  opinions 
intelligible  to  his  reader.  On  such  occasions  as  the  present,  description 
is  employed  to  assist  and  explain  the  graphic  illustrations ;  and,  united 
with  them,  to  elucidate  and  exemplify  the  forms,  styles,  and  characteristics 
of  the  building.  It  is  well  known  to  the  antiquary,  that  every  edifice  is 
composed  of  walls,  timbers,  and  various  architectural  members;  and  it  is  a 
curious  fact  that  no  two  ancient  buildings  are  precisely  alike.  To  define 
these  dissimilarities,  and  at  the  same  time  clearly  to  portray  the  aggregate 
character  and  individual  parts  of  each,  is  both  the  object  and  end  of  the 
artist  and  author.  In  the  large  cathedrals,  and  in  the  baronial  castles  of 
our  ancestors,  wherein  many  styles  of  architecture  have  been  successively 
introduced,  it  requires  considerable  care  and  skill  to  describe  and  illustrate 
the  whole,  and  properly  discriminate  the  numerous  gradations  ;  but  in  respect 
to  Bath  Abbey  Church  there  will  not  be  much  difficulty :  for  the  varied 
members  of  that  edifice  are  not  only  of  comparatively  modern  date,  but 
their  positive  forms  and  details  indicate  the  age  when  they  were  respect- 
ively designed. 

The  natural  character  of  the  country,  as  well  as  the  peculiar  features  of 
the  City  in  which  this  Church  is  seated,  cannot  fail  to  attract  the  notice 
and  secure  the  admiration  of  every  discerning  stranger.  They  also  demand 
the  attention  of  the  historian,  in  consequence  of  their  immediate  combination 
with  the  appearance  of  the  Abbey  Church  from  different  points. 

The  greater  part  of  Bath  is  situated  in  a  deep,  narrow  valley,  on  the  banks 
of  the  river  Avon,  which  meanders  in  a  contracted  channel,  from  east  to 
west,  through  the  city.     The  features  of  the  country  are  bold,  abrupt,  and 


DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  CHURCH.  49 

highly  picturesque.  Precipices,  steep  hills,  hanging  woods,  jutting  rocks, 
narrow,  irriguous  valleys,  wild  downs,  and  fair  lawns,  constitute  the  natural 
scenery;  whilst  the  buildings  that  have  been  successively  raised  to  suit 
the  conveniences  and  fancies  of  the  inhabitants,  are  almost  as  diversified  as 
Nature's  capricious  countenance.  With  streets  ascending  steep  hills,  or 
placed  along  the  edges  of  precipices,  and  others  disposed  many  yards  beneath 
the  basements  of  houses  that  overhang  them ;  a  Circus,  and  Crescents  with 
handsome  buildings  of  uniform  and  enriched  architecture,  private  mansions, 
elegant  shops,  detached  villas,  &c,  Bath  may  be  regarded  as  a  City  of 
unique  character  and  of  great  attractions.  Its  houses  are  constructed  of 
fine,  smoothed  freestone,  and  most  of  them  are  enriched  with  architectural 
ornaments.  The  streets  are  generally  well  paved  and  lighted,  and,  by  the 
judicious  regulations  of  the  Corporation,  are  mostly  kept  clean.  Fortu- 
nately here  are  scarcely  any  manufactures,  and  nothing  of  commerce  :  the 
whole  trade  of  the  place  seems  adapted  to  augment  the  comforts  and  the 
luxuries  of  life.  Fashion  has  long  chosen  it  as  her  head-quarters,  and  both 
nature  and  art  have  contributed  to  administer  to  her  wants  and  caprices. 
In  the  midst  of  this  famed  emporium  of  gaiety  and  elegance  rises  the  Abbey 
Church  ;  which,  though  a  small  building  when  compared  to  the  Cathe- 
drals of  York,  Lincoln,  Wells,  and  others,  appears  here  prominent,  bold, 
and  commanding.  Its  tower,  turrets,  and  clere-story  windows,  are  seen 
high  above  the  adjoining  houses,  and  they  collectively  constitute  a  pro- 
minent feature  in  every  approach  to  the  city.  We  find,  however,  on  a 
closer  view,  that  the  Church  itself  is  nearly  enveloped  with  houses,  and 
the  greater  part  of  it  shut  out  from  inspection.  Till  within  a  few  years, 
the  whole  of  the  north  and  south  sides  were  immured  by  shops  and  small 
houses ;  its  walls  were  cut  into  for  closets,  and  its  windows  obscured  by 
the  roofs  and  chimneys  of  those  buildings.  The  contiguous  ground,  being 
the  property  of  the  Corporation,  and  of  private  individuals,  was  let  out  to 
the  best  bidder,  and  considered  as  a  marketable  commodity :  the  lessee, 
of  course,  no  farther  regarded  the  sacred  walls  than  as  conducive  to  his 
own  domestic  wants  and  trading  advantages,  without  the  least  reference 
either  to  the  beauty  of  the  building  or  to  its  character  or  stability.  Various 
encroachments  were  in  consequence  made  on  the  fabric,  and  many  damages 
sustained ;  but  since  the  commencement  of  the  present  reign,  a  new  and 
more  enlightened  policy   has  been  exercised :  the  Corporation  have  thought 

H 


50  BATH  ABBEY  CHURCH. 

it  prudent  to  forego  a  considerable  annual  income  from  those  shops,  and 
thereby  give  up  private  emolument  to  public  appearance  and  to  the  public 
wish.  Some  houses,  that  were  attached  to  the  Church,  have  recently  been 
removed,  and  the  whole  are  intended  to  be  progressively  taken  down.  The 
Church  will  then  be  a  clear,  insulated  edifice;  the  Grove  and  the  Abbey 
Churchyard  will  be  open  to,  and  communicate  with  each  other ;  and,  whilst 
the  Church  will  be  amply  and  finely  displayed  to  public  scrutiny  and 
admiration,  the  surrounding  houses  will  increase  in  pleasantness,  respect- 
ability, and  value*.  At  the  early  part  of  the  last  century  the  Church 
was  a  common  thoroughfare,  or  path  of  communication  between  the  Grove 
on  the  east,  and  the  Churchyard  on  the  west.  General  Wade,  who  pos- 
sessed some  property  and  influence  here,  was  shocked  at  this  unhallowed 
and  disgusting  practice,  and  opened  a  thoroughfare,  since  called  Wade's 
Passage,  on  the  north  side  of  the  Church. 

The  general  Plan  of  the  Abbey  Church,  like  that  of  our  Cathedrals, 
is  a  cross,  with  an  embattled  tower  rising  from  the  intersection  of  the  nave 
and  transept.  It  has  arisen  from  this  similarity,  and  from  the  character  of 
the  architecture,  combined  with  the  ancient  connexion  of  the  Abbey  with 
the  See  of  Bath  and  Wells,  that  this  Church  has  been  so  frequently,  though 
improperly,  called  a  Cathedral.  It  never,  however,  had  the  least  title  to 
that  denomination ;  for,  although  indebted  for  its  origin .  to  Bishop  King, 
and  for  its  completion  to  Bishop  Montague,  the  charge  of  its  erection  was 
altogether  independent  of  the  public  revenues  of  the  See  of  Wells  ;  and  even 
in  Bishop  King's  time — who  contributed  so  largely  from  his  own  purse— 
as  well  as  afterwards,  a  great  portion  of  the  expenditure  was  derived  from 
the  income  of  the  Monks  of  Bath.  Besides,  there  never  was  any  Cathedral 
establishment  here ;  and  whatever  jurisdiction  the  bishop  possessed  over  the 
abbot  and  convent,  that  supremacy  was  entirely  abrogated  at  the  period  of 
the  Reformation,  when  the  convent  itself  was  dissolved,  and  the  whole  of 
the  abbatial  estates  and  possessions  became  the  property  of  lay  proprietors* 
Still  less  could  it  be  termed  a  Cathedral,  with  any  reference  to  its  actual 

*  Among  the  laudable  and  rational  improvements  of  the  present  age  in  town  architecture,  is 
the  formation  of  squares,  wide  streets,  and  spacious  openings.  The  conveniences,  and  even 
luxuries  of  life,  are  thereby  promoted  and  secured ;  and  even  the  landholder  is  ultimately  benefited. 
Bath  has  partaken  of  these  reformations  in  an  eminent  degree,  and  its  Corporation  and  Citizens 
will  manifest  a  profitable  and  liberal  policy  to  continue  the  improvements  of  their  city. 


DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  CHURCH  BY  FULLER,  AND  OTHERS.  51 

state,  after  it  was  granted  to  the  Corporation  of  Bath,  in  the  reign  of  Queen 
Elizabeth,  and  made  Parochial*. 

Fuller,  whose  originality  of  thought  and  singular  association  of  ideas 
still  interests  through  all  his  quaintness,  speaking  of  the  churches  of  Bath 
and  Wells,  introduces  his  remarks  thus :  "  Twins  are  said  to  make  but  one 
man,  as  these  two  churches  constitute  one  Bishop's  See.  Yet  as  a  twin 
oft-times  proves  as  proper  a  person  as  those  of  single  births;  so  these 
severally  equal  most,  and  exceed  many,  cathedrals  in  England-]"."  Of  Bath 
Church,  singly,  he  observes  :  "  This  church  is  both  spacious  and  specious, 
the  most  lightsome  as  ever  I  beheld,  proceeding  from  the  greatness  of  the 
Windows  and  whiteness  of  the  Glass  therein  J."  Similar  praise  is  bestowed 
by  Chapman;  who  says — "  This  Church  justly  challenging  to  itself  the 
Pre-eminence  for  Lightsomeness,  Stateliness,  and  Elegance  of  Structure,  of 
all  the  Parochial  Churches  in  the  Kingdom ||."  It  was,  unquestionably, 
the  peculiar  lightness  of  the  interior  that  occasioned  this  fabric  to  be 
denominated  the  Lantern  of  England ;  and  not,  as  Wood  has  darkly  stated, 
tl  from  the  elegance  of  the  disguised  Orders  in  the  building^." 

In  the  ground  plan  of  this  Church  there  is  a  considerable  variation  from 
most  of  our  ancient  ecclesiastical  structures,  the  ailes  being  wide  in  proportion 
to  the  width  of  the  nave,  and  the  transept  unusually  narrow.  In  conse- 
quence of  this,  the  base  of  the  tower  forms  an  oblong  square,  the  dimen- 
sions of  which,  from  north  to  south,  are  upwards  of  one-fourth  more  than 
from  east  to  west.     The  choir,  also,  in  comparison  with  the  nave,  is  unusually 


*  The  entire  abrogation  of  every  tie  between  Bath  Abbey  and  the  See  of  Bath  and  Wells, 
was  made  a  few  years  after  the  Reformation,  by  an  Act  of  Parliament  passed  in  the  35th  year  of 
Henry  VIII.  After  reciting  various  particulars  relating  to  the  former  state  of  the  See,  &c,  by 
which  it  appeared  that  the  Chapter  of  the  Bishopric  was  jointly  composed  of  the  Dean  and  Chapter 
of  Wells  and  the  Prior  and  Convent  of  Bath,  and  that  the  common  Seal  of  the  latter,  as  well  as 
that  of  the  Dean  and  Chapter  of  Wells,  was  necessary  to  give  validity  to  every  deed  granted  by 
the  Bishop  in  respect  to  the  Episcopal  estates — it  provides  that  all  grants,  leases,  &c,  which  had 
been  made  under  the  Seals  of  the  Bishop  and  the  Dean  and  Chapter  of  Wells  since  the  Dissolu- 
tion, should  be  good  and  available  in  law,  notwithstanding  the  doubts  which  had  been  enter- 
tained; and  that  in  future,  the  Dean  and  Chapter  of  Wells  should  be  for  ever  reported  and 
adjudged  to  be,  "  the  full,  entire,  and  sole  Chapter  of  the  Bishopric  of  Bath  and  Wells."  Vide 
Dugdale's  "  Monasticon,"  vol.  ii.  p.  294:  edit.  1819. 

f  "  Worthies  of  England,"  vol.  ii.  p.  277.  J  Ibid.  p.  278. 

||  "  Thermae  Redivivae,"  vide  Guidott's  "  Treatises,"  p.  415.    1725. 

§  "  Description  of  Bath,"  vol.  ii.  p.  310. 


52  BATH  ABBEY  CHURCH. 

long ;  and  it  is  remarkable  that  the  choir  ailes  are  carried  further  eastward 
than  the  choir  itself.  Notwithstanding  these  deviations  from  the  general 
arrangement  of  our  conventual  and  cathedral  edifices,  its  design  is  evidently 
contrived  with  great  scientific  and  geometrical  skill ;  the  walls  and  supporting 
piers  occupying  but  a  very  small  part  of  the  entire  site,  when  compared  with 
the  extent  of  the  space  covered,  as  will  be  seen  by  the  following  calcula- 
tions :  —  The  whole  building  stands  on  20,032  square  feet,  of  which  the 
points  of  support  include  about  4,500  square  feet;  consequently,  the  pro- 
portion of  the  latter  to  the  former  is  0.224. 

The  rise  of  ground  has  been  so  considerable  round  the  walls  that  much 
of  the  basement  is  buried ;  from  which  circumstance,  the  true  proportions 
of  the  Church  cannot  be  justly  appreciated.  The  entrance  from  the  west 
is  by  a  descent  of  three  steps  to  the  pavement ;  beneath  which,  at  the  depth 
of  about  six  or  seven  feet,  parts  of  an  older  floor,  with  base  mouldings,  &c, 
are  discovered.  On  the  outside,  the  present  level  of  the  ground  is  nearly 
nine  feet  above  the  plinth  of  the  walls. 

In  the  description  of  this  Church  given  by  Wood,  he  compares  its  plan 
and  measurements  to  those  of  the  most  ancient  structures  of  the  Jews ;  and 
affirms  that  "  the  whole  edifice  is  really  and  truly  an  Egyptian  hall  of  the 
Dorick  order,  sustaining  the  Corinthian,  turned  into  the  figure  of  a  Cross, 
under  Gothick  dress.  These  ideas  have  been  expanded,  and  a  more  par- 
ticular account  of  the  building  entered  into,  in  a  Manuscript  description,  of 
which  the  following  is  a  copy,  but  the  writer  of  which  has  not  been  traced ; 
although  it  is  probable  that  Wood  himself  was  the  person — his  opinions  and 
measurements,  and  in  some  instances  his  very  words,  being  adopted  from 
the  printed  statement*. 

"  The  proportions  of  the  Abbey  Church  of  Bath  shew  very  plainly  that 
the  founder  of  it  was  well  acquainted  with  both  the  profane  and  sacred 
architecture  of  the  ancients.  The  Church  is  truly  an  Egyptian  hall,  and  from 
the  intercolumniation  and  heights  of  the  pillars,  we  may  conclude  it  to  be  of 
the  Doric  order,  sustaining  the  Ionic ;  but  this  hall  is  turned,  as  an  emblem 
of  religion,  into  the  shape  of  a  cross,  under  a  Gothic  dress,  and  bears  all  the 
proportion  of  Noah's  Ark,  of  Solomon's  Temple,  and  of  the  Tabernacle  :  for 
instance,  the  nave  within,  being  211  feet  long,  by  35  feet  broad  to  the 
centres  of  the  pillars,  and  the  arms  of  the  cross,  that  extends  from  north 

*  Vide  "  Description  of  Bath,"  vol.  i'.  pp.  309,  310. 


DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  CHURCH.  53 

to  south,  being  120  feet  long  by  20  feet  broad,  both  form  an  area  of  six 
squares  in  length,  which  is  the  proportion  of  Noah's  Ark.  Again  :  the 
whole  Church,  from  east  to  west,  is  formed  upon  a  triple  square  nearly,  being 
225  feet  long  and  about  80  feet  broad ;  but  if  we  take  the  foot  of  the  cross,  we 
shall  find  it  to  be  exactly  a  triple  square,  which  was  the  proportion  of  Solo- 
mon's Temple.  If  we  take  the  head  of  the  cross,  we  shall  find  it  to  be 
formed  on  an  area  of  two  squares  and  an  half,  the  proportion  Moses  gave 
to  the  Tabernacle ;  and  the  proportion  of  the  Sanctum  Sanctorum  of  the 
Jewish  temple  is  preserved  in  each  arm  of  the  cross.  The  standard  of  the 
cross  is  composed  of  a  nave  and  two  isles,  the  exact  form  of  an  Egyptian 
hall ;  the  pillars  that  separate  the  nave  from  the  isles  being  4  feet  diameter, 
and  16  feet  asunder,  preserve  the  intercolumniation  the  Greeks  called 
Areostyle ;  and  the  whole  height  of  the  Church  being  nearly  80  feet,  pre- 
serves the  rule  the  ancients  always  observed  of  elevating  two  orders  of 
equal  altitude  upon  each  other.  The  sides  of  that  part  of  the  Egyptian  hall 
which  form  the  foot  of  the  cross  are  hexastyle,  and  the  sides  of  that  part 
which  form  the  head  of  the  cross,  tetrastyle.  In  the  Church  are  fifty-two 
windows,  thus  placed :  one  large  one  in  each  centre  of  the  east  and  west 
fronts,  and  one  large  one  in  each  end  of  the  arms  of  the  cross,  on  each 
of  which  the  other  windows  were  disposed  in  equal  numbers ;  eight  win- 
dows in  two  ranges  fronting  the  east,  the  like  number  fronting  the  west ; 
sixteen  windows  in  two  ranges  fronting  the  north,  and  the  like  number 
fronting  the  south ;  so  that  each  end  of  the  Church  contains  five  windows 
in  a  row,  including  that  which  makes  the  central  aperture,  and  each  side 
contains  nine  of  the  like  openings.  Seven  doors  were  originally  made  for 
entrance  into  the  Church,  and  if  we  examine  the  pillars  in  the  Church,  we 
shall  find  four  great  ones  supporting  the  tower,  and  six  smaller  ones  on 
each  side  the  Egyptian  hall :  thus,  while  the  four  large  pillars  pointed  out 
the  four  great  divisions  in  the  year,  the  twelve  smaller  ones  were  emble- 
matical of  the  twelve  months ;  and  as  the  doors  shew  the  days  of  the  week, 
so  the  windows  mark  out  the  weeks  in  the  year.  The  centre  of  the  west 
front,  on  which  is  represented  the  good  Bishop's  Dream*,  is  composed  of 

*  "  The  building  of  this  Church,"  says  Wood,  "  in  the  manner  we  now  see  it,  would  cost  in 
these  days  full  30,000Z.,  and  therefore,  how  light  soever  some  people  may  make  of  dreams,  it  is 
nevertheless  certain  that  Saint  Peter's  Church  at  Bath  has  testified,  for  near  250  years  back,  and  is 
like  to  do  the  same  for  many  centuries  to  come,  that  something  very  material  hath  come  from  a 
dream."    "  Description  of  Bath,"  vol,  ii.  p.  311. 


54  BATH  ABBEY  CHURCH. 

a  large  window  between  two  octagon  towers  ;  under  the  window  is  the  door, 
or  principal  entrance  into  the  Church ;  on  each  side  the  door  is  a  niche, 
one  holding  the  figure  of  St.  Peter,  the  other  that  of  St.  Paul :  over  the  door 
is  a  niche  in  which  formerly  was  the  figure  of  our  Saviour :  near  the  top 
of  the  window,  on  one  of  the  munions,  is  the  figure  of  a  Dove ;  and  at  the 
top  of  the  Church,  in  a  grand  niche,  was  a  figure,  made  to  represent  God 
the  Father :  the  spandrels,  or  spaces  above  the  window,  are  filled  up  with 
small  figures  representing  the  Cherubim  and  Seraphim :  on  the  front  of  each 
of  the  octagon  towers  is  the  representation  of  a  ladder,  with  Angels  ascend- 
ing and  descending,  and  at  the  foot,  a  Man  asleep  under  an  Olive  tree ;  and 
on  the  collateral  sides  of  the  towers  are  niches  which  hold  statues  of  the 
Twelve  Apostles :  the  wings  of  the  front  are  no  more  than  the  ends  of  the 
isles ;  but  the  whole  front,  exclusive  of  the  ornaments,  which  greatly  enrich 
it,  is  agreeable  and  pleasing,  being  formed  upon  the  proportion  of  an 
equilateral  triangle.  Though  the  west  front  is  so  deservedly  admired,  I 
cannot  help  here  observing  what  has  generally  passed  unnoticed ;  and  that 
is,  the  window  of  the  east  front,  which  is  about  20  feet  wide  and  50  feet 
high,  the  top  of  it  is  not  arched,  as  in  other  windows,  but  quite  strait, 
and  shews  the  great  skill  and  knowledge  the  builders  in  those  days  had 
in  mechanics,  to  what  our  modern  builders  can  boast  of.  The  head  of  the 
cross,  with  the  isles  on  each  side  of  it,  were  originally  intended  to  be  arched 
likewise  ;  but  the  death  of  Prince  Arthur  made  the  Bishop  in  such  a  hurry  to 
compleat  the  Church,  that  he  only  put  a  timber  roof  on  those  parts.  The 
buttresses  of  the  Church  are  well  worth  observation  ;  they  consist  of  a  strait 
line,  and  the  curve  of  a  parabola,  both  springing  from  the  same  base,  which 
is  the  outward  wall  of  the  isles  :  the  curve  of  the  parabola  abuts  against  the 
springing  of  the  arch  of  the  roof,  and  thereby  prevents  the  roof  from  spread- 
ing ;  the  strait  line,  which  is  the  tangent  to  the  parabola,  lies  against  the  top 
of  the  wall  of  the  Church,  which  is  level  with  the  crown  of  the  arch,  and 
thereby  keeps  the  whole  building  steady,  and  the  centre  of  gravity  in  its 
proper  place — a  remarkable  instance  of  the  judgment  of  the  builders.  This 
was  the  state  in  which  the  Church  was  left  by  Bishop  King,  and  before  it 
was  demolished  by  the  King's  commissioners." 

The  principal  Architectural  Characteristics  of  the  Abbey  Church  are 
exhibited  by  the  accompanying  Prints.  Aided  by  these,  it  is  hoped  that 
the  following  description  will  be  fully  understood  :  and  it  will  be  unne- 
cessary to  employ  the  language  either  of  praise  or  censure,  in  noticing  the 


JE/UjTMed  fa  Jkih'Jkrr'e.Tivri  aDrawvu  byJl.lJaBir/r&k. 

BATH 
Groiaid.Tliin,  with  ivrms  of  the  groitiiriq  kc. 

Frint/J  by  C>x  '.-/.'.:i-.:;r; 


GROUND  PLAN  OF  THE  CHURCH.  55 

various  divisions  of  this  edifice.  On  subjects  of  taste  and  of  scientific  art,  it 
is  but  seldom  that  the  conclusions  of  a  writer  have  any  influence  on  the 
judgment  of  professional  and  critical  readers,  who  generally  decide  from 
their  own  experience  and  preconceived  opinions. 

Plate  I. — Ground  Plan  of  the  Church.  This  defines  the  horizontal  form, 
arrangement,  and  proportions  of  the  building.  By  this  it  will  be  seen  to 
consist  of  a  nave,  d,  with  two  corresponding  ailes,  e,  f  ;  three  entrances  at 
the  west  end,  a,  b,  c  ;  four  clustered  columns  on  each  side  of  the  nave, 
with  large  windows,  of  five  lights  each,  occupying  the  whole  space  between 
the  piers  in  the  ailes.  A  narrow  transept,  h  i,  with  three  windows  in  the 
lower  part  of  each,  intersects  the  Church  from  north  to  south,  and  separates 
the  nave  from  the  choir,  k.  The  latter,  with  two  corresponding  ailes,  l,  m, 
east  of  the  transept,  constitute  the  remainder  of  the  Church.  It  is  shewn 
that  each  of  these  ailes  has  three  windows,  corresponding  with  those  of 
the  nave,  and  that  the  ailes  are  divided  from  the  choir  by  two  clustered 
columns,  and  three  arches  on  each  side.  At  the  east  end  of  the  ailes  are 
two  doorways,  i,  j,  and  two  circular  staircases,  g,  h.  At  f,  is  a  chantry 
chapel,  raised  to  the  memory  of  Prior  Bircle.  At  m,  is  a  small  extraneous 
building,  used  as  the  Vestry,  which  is  situated  in  the  parish  of  St.  James. 
Adjoining  its  door,  1,  is  an  old  mural  tomb  to  John  Bellingham,  1577.  Near 
the  west  end  of  the  south  aile,  at  a,  the  window  has  been  closed  up,  a 
private  house  abutting  against  the  wall.  At  b,  c,  are  staircases,  through  the 
western  turrets,  to  the  roofs  of  the  ailes  and  nave.  At  d,  is  Bishop  Montagues 
monument ;  e,  a  large  monumental  sarcophagus  to  Thomas  and  Margaret 
Litchfield,  the  former  of  whom  was  Lutanist  to  Queen  Elizabeth :  behind 
this  monument  is  an  old  doorway,  closed  up;  k,  a  large  altar-tomb,  with 
canopy,  pillars,  and  statues,  commemorative  of  Lady  Waller,  wife  of  Sir 
William  Waller.  At  p,  is  an  ancient  doorway,  now  closed  up,  called  the 
Prior's  entrance. 

It  will  be  seen  from  the  Plan  that  the  groined  vaulting  of  the  eastern 
part  of  the  Church  is  extremely  different  from  the  coved  ceiling  of  the 
nave  ;  and  that  the  ornamental  tracery  of  the  latter  is  very  plain  and  inarti- 
ficial when  compared  with  the  elaborate  ramifications  of  the  choir  and  its 
ailes.  There  is,  as  might  indeed  be  expected,  when  the  different  periods 
are  considered  at  which  the  various  parts  of  the  roof  were  executed,  a  very 
considerable  diversity  in  the  design  and  construction  of  the  vaultings.  The 
parts  eastward  from  the  transept  were,  most  probably,  completed  agreeably 


56  BATH  ABBEY  CHURCH. 

to  Bishop  King's  original  plan ;  and  they  are  very  elegant.  In  the  transept, 
the  groining  is  more  simple,  though  executed  on  the  same  principle  of  the 
high-pointed  arch.  On  the  contrary,  the  arch  that  forms  the  coved  ceiling  of 
the  nave  is  elliptical,  and  comparatively  very  flat ;  its  span  being  "  thirty 
feet  nine  inches,"  and  "  its  rise"  only  "  three  feet*."  Though  less  orna- 
mental, however,  than  the  choir,  it  is  contrived  with  great  ingenuity  and 
skill;  and,  as  stated  by  Carter,  "  maybe  justly  deemed  a  master-piece  of 
masonry-)"."  Its  "  construction,"  he  remarks,  "  is  most  singular  :  the  several 
mouldings  which  compose  the  tracery  being  the  only  solid  work,  while  the 
spaces  between  them  are  cut  through,  but  are  now  slightly  filled  with  lath 
and  plaster]:."  Its  low  arch  springs,  on  each  side,  from  an  horizontal  string 
course,  or  cornice;  the  ends  of  the  coving  abut  against  the  walls  of  the 
west  front  and  central  tower.  In  the  middle  of  each  compartment,  or 
severy,  of  this  ceiling,  within  a  radiated  quatrefoil,  is  a  sculptured  shield 
of  arms,  including  those  of  the  city  of  Bath  and  Bishop  Montague ;  the 
latter  being  twice  repeated||.  The  tracery  in  the  ailes  of  the  nave  is  of  a 
debased  and  inelegant  style. 

Browne  Willis  states  that  the  Bishop  and  Cardinal,  Adrian  de  Castello, 
who  was  translated  from  Hereford  to  the  See  of  Bath  and  Wells  in  October 
1504,  "  bestowed  much  money  in  vaulting  the  choir  of  Bath  Church,  as  may 
be  seen  by  his  arms  under  the  Cardinal's  Hat,  on  the  roof  on  each  side  of  the 
choir  §."  The  Cardinal's  arms  were  Argent,  three  Bendlets  embattled  and 
counter-embattled  Gules :  as  appears  from  the  title-page  to  his  work, 
"  Hadrianus  T  T  S.  Chrisogoni  S.  R.  E.  Presb.  Card.  Batonien.  De  Ser- 
mone  Latino  et  de  Modis  Latine  Loquendi,"  &c,  published  at  Basil  in 
1518.  With  this  agree  the  Manuscripts  of  the  late  Rev.  William  Cole, 
who  writes  thus :  "  Over  ye  great  west  window  twice,  and  on  ye  roof  of  ye 
Church  in  various  places,  are  these  arms,  which  I  observed,  being  at  Bath 
in  April  1746,  viz. :  Three  Bends  counter-embattale,  and  ensigned  with  a  Car- 
dinals Hat."     He  then  refers  them  to  Adrian,  whom  he  states  to  have  been 

*  Vide  "  Some  Account  of  the  Abbey  Church  of  Bath,"  p.  8,  published  by  the  Society  of 
Antiquaries.  f  Ibid.  J  Ibid. 

||  The  arms  of  the  City  of  Bath  are  Azure,  a  Saltire  Quarterly  quartered,  Or  and  Argent:  those 
of  Bishop  Montague  are  Quarterly,  1st  and  4th,  Argent,  within  a  Bordure  Sable,  three  Fusils  in 
Fess,  Gules ;  Montague :  2d  and  3d,  Or,  an  Eagle,  displayed  Vert,  armed  Gules ;  Monthermer. 

§  Vide  "  Survey  of  the  Cathedrals  of  York,  Durham,"  &c.  vol.  i.  p.  520.  Cardinal  Adrian 
was  deprived  of  all  his  ecclesiastical  dignities  in  1518,  for  conspiring  against  Pope  Leo  X. 


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GROININGS  —  WEST  FRONT.  57 

a  "generous  contributor  to  the  edification  of  the  Church*;"  most  probably, 
on  the  authority  of  Willis,  as  given  above ;  for  it  does  not  appear  from  any 
other  writer  that  the  Cardinal  ever  expended  any  sums  on  this  fabric  :  on 
the  contrary,  he  is  said  to  have  resided  at  Rome,  and  to  have  farmed 
out  the  revenues  of  his  See.  His  arms,  "  but  without  the  Hat,  are  yet 
visible  in  the  centre  division  of  the  vault  of  the  choir;"  and  also  on  two 
shields,  "  among  the  angels,"  in  the  centre  compartment  of  the  west  front, 
"  but  now  so  nearly  effaced  as  not  to  be  distinguishable  from  below  without 
a  telescope,"  surmounted  "  by  a  Cardinal's  Hatf."  These  vestiges  may 
intimate  that  the  vaulting  of  the  choir  and  the  western  elevation  were 
completed  during  Adrian's  episcopacy.  "  A  considerable  portion  of  the 
arched  ceiling  was  beautified  at  the  cost  of  Hugh  Bayley,  a  famous  bone- 
setter,  parvis  componere  magna  J." 

Plate  II.  — Details  of  Groinings,  8$c.  from  various  parts  of  the  Church. — 
No.  1.  Groining  at  the  north-east  end  of  the  choir ; — 2.  To  the  choir  ailes ;  — 
3.  To  the  east  side  of  the  north  transept; — 4.  At  the  north-east  angle,  below 
the  tower ;  — -5.  Tracery  of  the  ceiling  of  the  nave  ; — 6.  Of  the  nave  ailes  ;  — 
7.  Groining  at  the  south-west  angle  of  Prior  Birde's  Chapel; — 8.  Shield  of 
Birde's  arms,  with  crosier  and  tracery  behind  the  same. 

Plate  III. —  The  West  Front. — The  western  facades  of  the  Cathedrals, 
and  of  many  monastic  churches,  were  the  most  decorated  and  impressive 
exterior  features  of  those  sacred  edifices.  Intended  and  calculated  to  make 
powerful  impressions  on  the  minds  of  religious  devotees,  they  were  adorned 
with  niches,  pinnacles,  sculptures,  and  numerous  devices.  The  western  front 
was  the  chief  entrance : — to  this  the  priests  and  laity  were  first  introduced 
before  entering  the  holy  building,  and  here  the  first  effect  was  produced  on 
the  Catholic  worshippers.  On  contemplating  these  gorgeous  pieces  of  archi- 
tectural imagery,  the  credulous  and  zealous  would  naturally  be  led  to 
wonder,  to  admire,  and  to  adore.  The  west  end  of  the  Church,  now  under 
notice,  displays  a  design  in  which  architecture  and  sculpture  are  combined, 


*  Cole's  "  MS.  Collections,"  in  the  British  Museum,  vol.  xiii.  p.  42.  a. 

f  Vide  "  Some  Account  of  the  Abbey  Church,"  p.  7. 

%  "  Practical  Treatise  on  the  Bath  Waters,"  &c.  by  J.  H.  Spry,  Surgeon,  &c.  8vo.  1822.  After 
so  many  essays  and  treatises  have  appeared  on  the  Bath  waters,  we  are  surprised  to  see  a  new 
volume  on  the  same  subject :  but  genius  and  science,  as  in  the  present  instance,  can  give  interest 
and  point  to  a  "  thrice  told  tale."  •     •     • 

I 


58  BATH  ABBEY  CHURCH. 

and  in  which  Scriptural  histories  and  emblems  are  employed  to  excite 
interest  and  awaken  religious  feelings.  This  facade  may  be  described  as 
consisting  of  a  centre  and  two  wings ;  the  latter  being  constituted  by  the 
western  extremities  of  the  ailes.  The  sculpture  which  is  spread  over  this 
front,  has  already  been  mentioned  in  Sir  John  Harington's  account  of  the 
Vision  of  Bishop  King  (p.  33);  and  also  in  the  general  description  (p.  55): 
but  it  is  requisite  to  add  a  few  particulars  to  complete  the  elucidation. 

The  staircase  turrets  which  bound  the  central  part  of  this  front,  have 
square  basements,  but  are  carried  up  octagonally  from  the  height  of  the 
cornice  of  the  ailes :  they  are  terminated  by  two  ranges  of  pannelling,  and ' 
a  battlement.  Between  them  is  the  main  entrance,  the  great  west  window, 
and  the  sculptural  representation  of  the  Heavenly  Choir,  surmounted  by  an 
open-work  parapet,  embattled.  The  architrave  surrounding  the  entrance 
consists  of  numerous  mouldings,  from  which  a  sub-architrave  diverges,  and 
forms  a  square  head  over  the  arch;  the  spandrels  are  filled  with  labels, 
inclosing  wounded  hearts,  crowns  of  thorns,  pierced  feet  and  hands,  &c, 
emblems  of  our  Saviour's  crucifixion :  the  northern  spandrel  is  delineated  in 
Plate  VI.  a.  The  folding-doors  constitute  a  curious  example  of  the  decorative 
carving  of  James  the  First's  time :  the  upper  part  displays  an  heraldic 
mantle,  surmounted  by  a  knight's  helmet  and  a  griffin's  head,  the  crest  of 
the  Montagues.  On  the  mantle  are  two  shields  of  arms ;  viz.  within  a 
garter  the  See  of  Bath  and  Wells  impaling  Montague,  and  Montague  only : 
beneath  it  is  another  shield,  and  on  a  flowing  label  round  it  is  inscribed 
Ecce  quam  bonum  et  quam  jucundum,  etc.  At  the  sides  of  the  doorway  are 
canopied  niches,  containing  large  statues,  now  greatly  defaced,  of  St.  Peter 
and  St.  Paul,  the  apostolic  patrons  of  this  edifice.  The  inscriptions  which 
were  formerly  on  the  pedestals,  are  nearly  obliterated  ;  but  Cole,  who  visited 
this  Church  in  the  year  1746,  has  preserved  them  in  his  MSS.  in  the  British 
Museum :  — 

"  Under  ye  image  of  St.  Peter,  with  his  keys  in  his  hand,  on  ye  north 
side,  is  this : 

Claviger  JEthereus  f actus  de  Simone  Petrus. 

"  Under  the  other  of  St.  Paul,  holding  a  sword,  is  this  line  : 
Ecce  Furor  Saulif actus  est  Conversio  Pauli." 
Beneath  the  pedestals  are  the  portcullis  and  the  union  rose,    crowned,  the 
badges  of  Henry   the   Seventh.     The  figure   of  St.  Paul,   &c.  is  shewn  in 
Plate  VI.  b. 


LARGE  WINDOW  AND  WESTERN  FRONT.  59 

In  the  centre  of  an  enriched  parapet  over  the  great  western  door,  is  a 
small  niche,  now  unoccupied,  but  presumed  to  have  contained  originally 
a  figure  of  Henry  VII.,  whose  arms  (crowned)  and  supporters  are  sculp- 
tured at  the  bottom.  Some  traces  of  a  defaced  inscription  are  visible  on 
a  label  to  the  right  and  left  of  this  niche. 

The  large  window  is  finely  proportioned ;  and  although  its  tracery  is  not 
particularly  elaborate,  it  is  regarded  as  curious  from  a  supposed  connexion 
of  the  design  with  the  idea  of  the  Trinity*.  Perpendicularly,  it  consists  of 
three  principal  divisions,  independently  of  the  tracery  within  the  great  arch, 
on  the  centre  of  which  are  the  remains  of  a  sculptured  figure  of  a  bird,  pro- 
bably intended  to  represent  the  Holy  Dove. 

The  whole  of  the  space  between  the  architrave  of  this  window  and  the 
parapet,  (which  is  pedimental  and  embattled,)  is  filled  with  sculpture,  in 
bold  relief,  representing  the  Angelic  Choir,  in  attitudes  of  adoration,  glorify- 
ing the  Trinity ;  which  was  typified  by  a  statue  of  God  the  Father,  seated 
within  a  canopied  niche  in  the  centre,  and  most  probably  sustaining  the 
image  of  the  Saviour, — as  delineated  in  Catholic  missals,  and  still  frequently 
to  be  seen  in  ecclesiastical  sculptures.  The  statue  remains,  but  the  hands 
have  been  broken  off,  and  other  parts  damaged :  the  head,  which  is  that  of  a 
venerable  bearded  figure,  still  exhibits  traces  of  a  fine  character.  The  feet 
rest  on  a  bracket;  below  which  are  two  shields,  charged  with  the  arms  of 
the  See,  surmounted  by  a  dragon  and  a  greyhound,  (the  supporters  of  Henry 
the  Seventh  f,)  sustaining  a  rose,  crowned.  The  ascending  and  descending 
Angels,  which  are  sculptured  on  the  rounds  of  the  ladders  in  front  of  the 
staircase  turrets,  are  much  mutilated ;  as  are  also  the  figures,  apparently  of 
shepherds,  standing  on  the  undulating  ground  which  supports  the  ladders  : 
over  the  shepherds  are  inscribed  labels,  now  unintelligible  J.     The  character 

*  In  the  account  published  by  the  Society  of  Antiquaries,  the  window  is  thus  described :  - — 
"  The  west  window  is  of  extreme  richness :  it  consists  of  two  sub-arches,  and  a  large  division 
between  them,  each  sub-arch  having  three  divisions,  which  are  likewise  seen  in  the  heads  of  the 
sub-arches;  the  spandrels  between  the  heads  and  the  large  division  in  the  centre  have  each 
three  divisions :  the  heights,  from  the  bottom  of  the  window  to  Jbe  springing  of  the  arch,  have 
also  three  divisions :  in  the  heads  of  the  sub-arch  are  three  divisions,  and  the  large  division  in 
the  centre  has  also  three  divisions." — p.  7. 

f  This  monarch  was  anxious  to  be  regarded  as  a  descendant  of  Cadwallader,  the  last  king  of 
the  Britons,  whose  ensign  was  the  red  dragon.  The  greyhound  was  an  ancient  supporter  of  the 
arms  of  the  house  of  Beaufort,  from  which  Henry  traced  his  maternal  descent. 

X  It  was  probably  on  these  labels  that  the  words,  Be  sursum  est,  mentioned  by  Sir  John 
Harington,  were  inscribed. 


60  BATH  ABBEY  CHURCH. 

and  appearance  of  these  sculptures  will  be  seen  on  referring  to  Plate  VI.  c. 
At  the  top  of  each  ladder  is  a  defaced  demi-figure,  that  on  the  northern 
side  probably  intended  to  typify  Heaven,  and  that  on  the  south  Hell:  at 
least  the  latter  displays  two  eyes,  with  an  open  mouth  and  large  teeth, 
resembling  some  of  the  representations,  in  old  designs,  of  the  mouth  of 
the  infernal  regions  :  see  Plate  VI.  d.  On  the  cants  of  the  turrets,  on  each 
side  the  ladders,  are  statues  of  the  Twelve  Apostles'  in  three  tiers,  standing 
on  pedestals,  with  small  arched  canopies  over  them :  these  figures,  though 
greatly  mutilated,  have  an  appearance  of  good  sculpture. 

On  each  buttress,  near  the  extremities  of  the  ailes,  is  a  piece  of  sculp- 
ture, (see  Plate  VI.  e,)  allusive  to  the  name  and  vision  of  Bishop  King,  viz. 
the  Olive  springing  through  a  regal  crown,  and  surmounted  by  a  mitre. 
Beneath  are  two  mutilated  animals :  below  which  is  an  expanded  roll.  On 
this  are  traces  of  the  text,  from  the  parable  of  the  trees  choosing  a  king, 
as  inserted  in  page  39. 

The  doorways  to  the  ailes  are  in  unison  with  the  centre  entrance,  and 
the  enrichments  are  similar,  though  less  elaborate.  Over  each  is  a  low- 
pointed  arched  window,  divided,  horizontally,  into  four  principal  lights,  by 
mullions  branching  into  handsome  tracery.  Both  the  centre  mullions  are 
ornamented  by  a  human  figure  standing  on  a  pedestal  under  an  enriched 
canopy,  (vide  Plate  VI.  /  and  g)  :  that  on  the  northern  side  is  in  flowing- 
drapery,  and  appears  to  hold  an  open  deed  with  seals  appendant :  that 
on  the  south,  which  was  probably  meant  for  a  king,  seems  to  be  holding 
a  pouch,  or  money-bag.  On  each  pedestal,  is  a  shield  of  arms.  Above 
the  northern  window  is  the  inscription,  IBfJllTUS  VHSU  J  and  over  the  other, 
IBontUS  OrOtttSS  (an  abbreviation  for  Orationis),  in  black  letter.  At  the 
sides  are  vacant  brackets.  A  cornice,  with  an  embattled  and  pierced  parapet, 
(both  raking  pedimentally,)  terminate  the  summit  of  each  aile. 

Plate  IV.  —  View  from  the  South-east. — This  displays  the  chief  architec- 
tural features  of  the  southern  side  of  the  Church ;  particularly  the  windows 
of  the  aile  and  clerestory  —  the  flying  buttresses  of  the  choir  —  the  vestry  — 
the  south  and  east  sides  of  the  tower  —  the  lofty  and  narrow  southern 
transept,  and  the  aile  and  clerestory  of  the  nave.  This  view  represents 
the  Church  as  it  would  be  seen,  from  a  certain  point,  if  the  houses  were 
removed  from  the  south  side  of  the  nave. 

Plate  V. — East  End. — There  are  several  peculiar  features  in  the  design 
of  this  front,  of  which  the  plain  horizontal  terminations  of  the  ailes,  the 
square  forms  of  the  turrets,  which  exhibit  two  ranges  of  pannelling,  of  the 


£ngrm>ed  l^-JIJ,eJiei!.T.  from  aJ-lraiyhiyby  /l.Shep7ierd,ai)zr  a  S/re/r/i  hy  KJl'trJtenzte' 

EAST  IZK®  OF 

■OBOE  AB3BIET  (DMTOIftCIH. 

B^TBL 
TO  JOHNWiLISHmEESli"?  SHO CKl.WIICK,  this  jlatc-ls  inscrftea  "bvtlie  mjthor. 

•FublisTLut  bytht  Mitfwr.  Burwn  Street^iu.0. 16&. 


SATE  AMMMY  CMTU^CW* 

ARCHITECT  tfRAL  DETAILS . 

Vide  aescripaijii. 

£  /-■</•  n  ~RiJblisheA  .iua  i  ifc-hbu Lenaman  &  C ' Faterruister  Jtctr. 


.JM. 


ZtwwoI  fy  W? Smahirom,  aDnwing  bvT.MhScaude. tar Bnwrv JHLrwry  ice cf-BtahAbley  Quirch. 

IB  ATM  AIB3BIST  dBHEJ)S,CM , 

View  ef  the  ITavs  IvoJdnqJEajt. 

TO  THE  REVPRICHAKL  WJKVER  ^iuOwr  ofaMstmy  cfMmh  I-  of  several  cAer  inter estmg  Wants 

DusMm  is  biscnbeZ  bjjriaen.. 

XoTuLmlhtblithed  by  thejdiaiwr.Jj/gj^iSzj. 


Triia/J  fylfay  K-vi . 


JP>JLJrIZX. 


17,-tr  looking  S.WofMive.  £c. 

JPTHE  HEV?  JOSEPH  HUNTER.  AUTHOR  OF 'THE  BISTORT  See  OF  liALMMSHlRE'. 
This  Tlate    is    inscribed  "with  sentiments   of    esteem  "by  ., 
Zoiufo/uFttMsfted  h/fir  d}tlfwr,Jart*l?M20. 


J.BB1TTON 


DETAILS  —  VIEWS  OF  THE  NAVE.  61 

character  of  Henry  the  Seventh's  time,  and  the  straight  head  of  the  great  win- 
dow, may  be  pointed  out  as  the  most  particular.  In  its  general  plan,  the  latter 
is  similar  to  the  great  west  window,  but  it  consists  of  an  additional  tier  of  lights  ; 
and  the  jambs  are  carried  up  perpendicularly  to  the  highest  point  of  the  win- 
dow ;  the  spandrels  are  pierced  into  circular  openings,  glazed  with  stained 
glass.  Similar  trefoil-arched  heads  ornament  the  buttresses  as  those  at  the 
west  end.  In  the  spandrel  to  the  doorway  of  the  north  aile  is  a  shield, 
charged  with  a  fleur-de-lis,  and  the  initials  J.  F.  for  Jeffrey  Flower,  gent. ; 
at  whose  cost  the  new  wall  here,  with  the  doorway,  and  the  window 
over  it,  were  built.  An  inscription  on  the  buttress  of  the  north-east  corner, 
states,  that  the  two  buttresses  were  repaired  at  the  "  cost  of  Francis  Allen, 
sometime  clothier  of  this  cittye,  1616." 

Plate  VI. - — Details  from  different  parts  of  the  Church. — All  the  parts 
referred  to  from  a  to  g  have  already  been  described  :  h  is  a  small  orna- 
mental recess  at  the  end  of  the  south  transept,  which  Carter,  in  the 
"  Account"  published  by  the  Society  of  Antiquaries,  has  called  an  almonry : 
it  is  more  likely,  however,  to  have  been  a  piscina,  as  both  its  situation 
and  form  are  perfectly  suitable  for  the  latter,  —  should  there  have  been, 
as  there  probably  was,  a  chantry  here,  with  the  altar,  as  usual,  to  the  east : 
in  Carter's  print  the  pannels  over  the  recess  are  omitted.  —  i  and  j  are  parts 
of  Prior  Birde's  chapel,  which  will  be  described  under  Plates  IX.  and  X. :  k  is 
a  demi-angel  supporting  a  shield  of  Edward  the  Confessor's  arms,  which  is 
sculptured  at  the  springing  of  the  groining  at  the  east  end  of  the  choir,  on  the 
north  side.  There  are  four  similar  sculptures  on  each  side  of  the  groining, 
within  the  lower  pannels. 

Plate  VII. — Interior  of  the  Nave,  looking  east,  divested  of  monuments. — 
This  view  shews  the  forms  of  the  main  piers  and  arches,  the  clerestory 
windows,  the  groining,  the  great  arches  of  the  tower,  &c,  together  with  the 
distant  parts  of  the  choir.  At  its  eastern  extremity,  the  nave  is  crossed 
by  a  glazed  screen  and  organ  gallery. 

Plate  VIII. — View  across  the  Nave,  looking  south-west. — In  this  de- 
lineation the  artist  has  endeavoured  to  portray  the  effect  of  the  descending 
sun,  when  its  refulgent  rays  are  streaming  through  the  western  windows. 
The  forms  of  the  great  piers  are  distinctly  shewn :  they  stand  diagonally, 
(the  mouldings  of  the  arches  being  continued  to  the  bases,)  and  at  the 
angles,  which  are  canted  off,  are  small  three-quarter  columns.  The  arch- 
way seen  in  the  distance,  formed  what  is  still  called  the  Prior's  Entrance,  but 


62  BATH  ABBEY  CHURCH. 

it  has  long  been  closed  up.  The  very  crowded  state  of  the  monuments  may- 
be readily  comprehended  from  this  view ;  the  piers  and  walls  of  the  whole 
Church  bein°-  similarly  loaded  with  sepulchral  memorials.  Under  the  second 
arch  in  the  north  aile,  as  represented  in  the  print,  but  in  reality  the  fourth 
from  the  west  end,  is  the  monument  of  Bishop  Montague,  which  is  com- 
posed of  an  insulated  tomb,  (on  which  lies  the  good  prelate's  effigy,)  sur- 
rounded with  iron  railing,  and  flanked  by  Corinthian  columns,  supporting- 
entablatures,  shields  of  arms,  &c,  in  the  costly  style  of  James  the  First's 
time.  The  forms  of  the  tracery  in  the  ailes  of  the  nave  are  shewn  in  this 
engraving. 

Plate  IX.  — Interior  Elevations. — A,  is  the  first  compartment  from  the 
east  on  the  south  side  of  the  choir ;  including  the  screen  of  the  chapel 
of  Prior  Birde,  which  is  represented  as  in  a  perfect  state :  B,  is  the  south 
side  of  the  central  tower ;  and  C,  is  the  compartment  of  the  nave  at  the 
west  end,  with  a  section  of  the  window.  The  forms  of  the  plinths,  sub- 
plinths,  and  bases  of  the  columns ;  the  manner  in  which  the  mouldings 
rise  and  form  the  architraves ;  the  way  in  which  the  astragals  or  bands, 
(which  constitute  so  many  capitals,)  are  composed  by  the  small  horizontal 
mouldings  at  the  springing  of  the  arches  ;  the  springing  of  the  groins,  and 
the  construction  of  the  roof,  —  are  all  exhibited  in  these  elevations. 

The  monumental  Chapel  of  Prior  Birde  is  situated  on  the  south  side  of 
the  choir  near  the  altar.  The  greater  part  of  its  northern  screen  has  been 
very  reprehensibly  destroyed,  to  make  room  for  "  the  clumsy,  misshapen 
wooden  seat  called  the  Bishop's  throne*."  The  south  side  consists,  longi- 
tudinally, of  two  divisions,  rising  from  a  basement  ornamented  with  quatre- 
foils  in  pannels,  and  being  separated  by  octangular  buttresses;  these,  in 
the  upright,  are  divided  into  four  compartments  of  small  pannelled  arches, 
and  their  capitals  unite  with  the  entablature  which  surrounds  the  whole. 
The  work  above  the  entablature  has  been  cut  away,  to  make  room  for  a 
gallery :  its  fascia  is  sculptured  with  running  vine-branches,  in  bold  relief. 
The  divisions  between  the  buttresses  are  composed  of  two  flattened  arches, 
with  three  mullions  and  tracery,  and  having  a  plinth  of  several  mouldings, 
and  a  dado  of  enriched  radiated  quatrefoils,  in  pannels,  with  an  open  flower, 
or  rosette,  in  the  centre  of  each.  In  the  spandrels  is  a  variety  of  finely 
wrought  foliage,  including  birds  and,  apparently,  the  figure  of  a  Sagittarius ; 

*  Warner's  "  History  of  Bath,"  p.  250. 


birde's  chantry.  63 

but  the  sculpture  being  much  obscured,  this  cannot  be  determined  with 
certainty.  At  the  north-west  angle  are  two  angular  niches,  one  above  the 
other,  having  duplex  canopies  crowned  with  pinnacles.  At  the  exterior 
angle  of  the  north-west  corner,  is  a  double  pannel  crowned  with  an  ogee 
arch-moulding,  with  crockets,  from  which  springs  one  of  the  angular  groins. 
Plate  VI.  j. 

A  part  of  the  south  side  of  this  Chapel  is  represented  in  the  Title  Page, 
Plate  X.,  in  its  present  state  of  dilapidation.  There  were  two  sub-arches 
in  each  division,  together  with  an  enriched  transom.  The  small  openings 
in  the  head  of  the  principal  arch  are  sharply  and  elegantly  pierced.  The 
figure  presumed  to  be  a  Sagittarius,  appears  amidst  the  foliage  in  the 
spandrel  which  fronts  the  right  hand.  The  spandrels  on  the  north  side  do 
not  appear  to  have  been  completed :  that  shewn  in  Plate  VI.  i,  seems  to 
have  included  the  figure  of  an  angel,  and  a  money-bag,  with  surrounding 
labels  and  foliage. 

The  chantry  chapel  thus  noticed  must  have  been  originally  a  most  in- 
teresting specimen  of  architectural  design.  Both  externally  and  internally 
the  whole  was  adorned  with  pannelling,  roses,  niches,  pedestals,  and  varied 
sculpture.  It  consisted  of  a  stone  screen,  filling  up  the  space  between  two 
columnar  piers  on  the  south  side  of  the  choir,  and  was  formerly  provided 
with  an  altar  at  the  east  end,  and  a  piscina.  There  were  probably  two 
doors  of  entrance  ;  one  from  the  choir,  the  other  from  the  south  aile.  One 
of  them  remains,  but  the  other,  as  well  as  nearly  the  whole  of  the  northern 
screen,  is  destroyed.  The  tracery  of  the  roof  consists  of  four  compartments 
of  fan-shaped  tracery,  diverging  from  the  sides,  and  spreading  over  the 
surface ;  at  the  eastern  end,  over  the  altar-place,  are  five  pannels,  charged 
with  lozenge-shaped  tracery :  the  central  pannel  is  adorned  with  a  shield, 
bearing  the  Prior's  anns,  surmounted  by  a  mitre,  as  represented  in  Plate  II. 
No.  8. 

The  lamentable  state  to  which  this  interesting  and  beautiful  chantry  is 
reduced,  cannot  but  excite  regret,  and  even  some  degree  of  indignation. 
Besides  having  one  side  broken  away,  the  remainder  of  the  pannelling  and 
sculpture  is  partly  filled  up,  and  obscured  by  repeated  coats  of  whitewash  * 

*  The  common  and  vulgar  practice  of  white-washing  and  yellow-washing  Churches  cannot 
be  sufficiently  regretted,  nor  can  it  be  too  much  reprobated.  However  cleanly  and  carefully 
executed,  it  becomes  offensive  to  the  eye,  and  incompatible  with  all  the  canons  of  taste;  but 


64  BATH  ABBEY  CHURCH. 

the  whole   interior  is   filled   with   modern  pews,   and   other   parts   are   cut 
into,  and  injured  by  monumental  slabs  affixed  to  the  surface. 

In  reviewing  the  Choir  of  the  Church,  we  find  that  modern  alterations, 
and  adaptations  to  accommodate  a  crowded  congregation,  have  been  made, 
without  any  regard  to  harmony  of  style,  to  form,  or  to  colour.  The  whole 
area  is  filled  with  common,  irregular  pews,  and  the  arches  on  each  side 
are  blocked  up  by  galleries,  with  boarded  backs,  glazed  doors,  &c.  At 
the  west  end,  beneath  the  lofty  arches  of  the  tower,  is  an  organ-gallery; 
which,  with  the  organ-case,  are  extremely  inappropriate  and  tasteless.  The 
whole  is  supported  by  common  pillars,  and  the  ends  inserted  in  the  piers 
of  the  tower.  The  altar-piece,  or  fittings  up  behind  the  altar,  affect  some- 
thing of  architectural  character,  and  were  certainly  intended  to  be  adorn- 
ments to  the  place.  A  considerable  mass  of  marble,  formed  into  columns, 
with  entablature,  pediment,  &c,  is  employed;  and  doubtless  designed  to 
imitate  Roman,  not  ecclesiastical  architecture,  and  therefore  has  no  analogy 
to  the  window  above,  or  the  arches  at  the  sides.  Had  the  screen  of  the  con- 
tiguous chapel  been  taken  as  a  pattern,  and  imitated  in  the  fitting  up  of 
the  altar,  and  for  the  communion  rails,  something  beautiful  and  harmonious 
would  have  been  produced.  Attached  to  the  piers,  and  against  the  walls  at 
the  eastern  end  of  the  choir,  are  various  monuments ;  and  the  pavement  is 
almost  wholly  formed  of  inscribed  slabs. 


The  epigrammatic  distich  of  the  late  Dr.  Harington  cannot  fail  to  be  re- 
membered on  viewing  the  numerous  sepulchral  memorials  in  this  Church  : 

"  These  walls,  adorned  with  monument  and  bust, 
Shew  how  Bath  waters  serve  to  lay  the  dust." — 

This  remark  was  not,  however,  dictated  by  a  reprehensible  .levity,  but  by 
that  playfulness  of  imagination  which  marked  the  character  of  the  amiable 

the  usual  process  of  smearing  coat  on  coat,  and  that  frequently  very  thick,  destroys  all  the 
beauties  of  sculpture  and  all  the  rich  varieties  of  surface.  The  fascinating  effects  of  light, 
shadow,  and  relief,  which  the  skilful  architects  intended  to  produce,  are  thus  counteracted; 
and  forms  that  were  originally  graceful  and  beautiful,  are  rendered  flat,  stale,  and  insipid. 
It  is  almost  as  reprehensible  as  clothing  the  Venus  de  Medicis  in  a  loose  smock-frock,  or  the  Apollo 
Belvidere  in  a  coachman's  box-coat. 


MORTUARY  REMARKS.  65 

writer.  True  wit,  influenced  by  benevolent  sentiment,  consecrates  every 
thing  on  which  it  is  employed.  Serious  and  even  melancholy  subjects  it 
renders  pleasing,  or  at  least  it  diverts  the  mind  from  an  irrational  tendency 
of  dwelling  on  irremediable  events.  Death  is  the  inevitable  termination  of  all 
living  beings, — it  is  as  natural  and  certain  as  for  day  and  night  to  succeed 
each  other.  None  but  the  coward  and  the  conscious  sinner  should  dread 
to  die.  "  The  Soldier,"  says  Trim,  "  never  fears  death  in  battle" — the 
true  Christian  and  the  sound  Philosopher  disregard  him  every  where.  All 
nature,  and  all  the  institutions  of  man,  point  to  this  "  moral  tale*." 

*  Fanaticism  induces  melancholy,  misery,  worldly  abstraction ;  but  man  is  not  naturally  con- 
stituted for  either: — he  is  endowed  with  mind,  and  social  adaptations  to  the  world, — to  its 
varieties  and  to  its  pleasures.  He  is  one  link  in  the  chain  of  concord ;  and,  by  fulfilling  his 
duty,  he  promotes  all  the  friendly  relations  of  life.  Man  may  be  generally  good  and  happy, 
and  thereby  contribute  to  the  happiness  of  others.  It  is  easier  to  be  virtuous  than  to  be 
vicious ;  and  whilst  virtue  ever  wears  a  cheerful  countenance,  vice  is  either  haunted  by  a  guilty 
conscience,  or  visited  by  positive  or  anticipated  sorrow.  Hervey  has  written  "  Meditations  among 
the  Tombs,"  in  a  tone  of  solemn  and  doleful  lamentation.  Young  penned  his  "  Night  Thoughts " 
with  more  sublime  imagery,  and  a  better  feeling  of  philosophy ;  but  with  too  lachrymose  an  eye 
towards  worldly  enjoyments.  The  amiable  Addison  says — "  If  I  wish  to  indulge  melancholy,  or  to 
be  made  wiser  and  better  than  I  am,  I  wander  among  the  tombs  of  Westminster  Abbey."  If  that 
place  be  calculated  to  produce  such  effects,  the  Abbey  Church  of  Bath  is  equally  admonitory;  for 
•  it  is  the  mortuary  repository  of  many  hundreds  of  our  species.  Persons  of  all  countries  and 
climes, — of  all  professions  and  ages, — of  different  sects  and  conditions,  are  here  entombed  in 
a  small  space ;  and  their  ashes  mingle,  perhaps,  with  the  heathenised  Romans,  Saxons,  and 
Danes.  What  an  awful,  and  what  a  grand  theme  for  meditation!  It  ought  to  make  us  wiser 
and  better,  by  impelling  us  to  correct  our  follies  and  subdue  our  vices.  But  1  would  recommend 
a  contrary  doctrine  to  that  of  Addison,  by  saying,  "  abstain  from"  rather  than  "  indulge  in 
melancholy :"  for  to  cherish  this  morbid  feeling  must  unnerve  the  frame  and  disorder  the  faculties. 
The  Christian  church,  abounding  with  numerous  monumental  records,  is  calculated  to  awaken 
grand,  sublime,  soothing,  and  even  harmonising  reflections.  It  shews  us  that,  though  life  is 
precarious,  and  death  certain,  many  have  attained  dignified  and  happy  old  age; — have  acquired 
honours,  fame,  and  riches; — have  secured  the  esteem  of  relations  and  friends,  and  thereby 
deserved  the  praise  of  posterity.  In  such  a  place,  surrounded  by  such  mementos,  I  could 
meditate  on  God  and  man  without  one  emotion  of  melancholy,  —  without  one  sentiment  of 
misery.  The  omnipotent  and  inscrutable  laws  of  Providence  would  naturally  press  on  the  mind  : 
but  instead  of  inducing  sorrow  and  misery,  they  would  carry  the  thoughts  from  terrestrial  to 
celestial  objects.  In  contemplating  the  bust  of  the  poet,  the  trophy  of  the  hero,  the  tablet  of 
the  musician,  and  the  urn  of  the  philosopher,  I  could  find  abundant  scope  for  reflection,  and 
sources  of  delight ;  for  they  all  indicate  the  extent  and  energies  of  the  mental  character,  and 
point  out  the  elevated  rank  to  which  we  may  attain  by  the  judicious  exertion  of  our  faculties, 
and  in  perfect  accordance  with  every  law  which  a  benignant  Deity  has  enjoined  for  our  conduct  in 

K 


66  .     BATH  ABBEY  CHURCH. 

Perhaps  there  is  not  a  Church  in  England,  not  excepting  that  national 
mausoleum,  Westminster  Abbey,  so  crowded  with  sepulchral  memorials  as 
the  sacred  edifice  now  under  notice.  Besides  the  floor  being  nearly  paved  with 
inscribed  slabs,  there  are  at  least  450  tablets,  &c,  of  all  descriptions,  affixed 
to  the  side  walls  and  pillars  of  the  building.  Nearly  the  whole  interior  sur- 
face of  the  walls,  floor,  and  columns,  is  lined  or  covered  with  monuments  and 
tablets,  of  all  sizes,  forms,  colours,  and  materials.  Brass,  copper,  stone,  slate, 
marble,  and  wood,  are  distributed  over  the  surface,  to  attract  the  eye  of  the 
visitor.  From  their  number  and  diversified  forms  and  colours,  they  may  be 
said  to  counteract  the  destined  purpose  of  each, — sympathy  and  awe.  Instead 
of  solemnity  and  repose,  they  produce  fritter  and  confusion.  The  eye  cannot 
rest,  nor  can  the  mind  be  serene,  where  such  distraction  and  incongruousness 
prevail.  Here  is  neither  order  nor  symmetry;  nor  has  there  been  any  attempt 
at  systematic  arrangement.  In  excuse  it  may  be  said  that  it  would  be  im- 
practicable, if  not  impossible,  to  remedy  such  a  defect,  where  the  fancies  of 
so  many  persons  are  allowed  to  prevail.  The  beginning  of  the  evil  is  not 
of  the  present  day  or  present  age ;  and  few  have  the  courage  and  good  taste 
to  commence  a  reform,  where  so  much  is  to  be  undone,  as  well  as  done. 


this  transitory  scene  of  our  earthly  pilgrimage. — I  must,  however,  check  the  pen,  for  my  province 
here  is  information,  not  disquisition.  The  subject  must  be  my  apology;  but  I  trust  that  these 
reflections  will  neither  be  deemed  inapposite  nor  irrelevant. 

The  King's  admonition  to  Hamlet,  in  Shakspeare's   incomparable   drama,   is  in  accordance 
with  these  reflections,  and  with  the  subject. 


;  To  persevere 


In  obstinate  condolement  is  a  course 
Of  impious  stubbornness;  'tis  unmanly  grief: 
It  shews  a  will  most  incorrect  to  Heaven ; 
A  heart  unfortified,  or  mind  impatient ; 
An  understanding  simple  and  unschool'd : 
For  what  we  know  must  be,  and  is  as  common 
As  any  the  most  vulgar  thing  to  sense, 
Why  should  we,  in  our  peevish  opposition, 
Take  it  to  heart  ?     Fie !  'tis  a  fault  to  Heaven, 
A  fault  against  the  dead,  a  fault  to  nature  : 
To  reason  most  absurd,  whose  common  theme 
Is  death  of  fathers,  and  who  still  hath  cried 
From  the  first  corse  'till  he  that  died  to-day, 
This  must  be  so." 


REMARKS  ON  MONUMENTS.  67 

Although  these  remarks  are  applied  immediately  to  the  Church  under 
notice,  they  are  alike  applicable  to  Westminster  Abbey,  to  St.  Paul's  Cathe- 
dral, and  to  many  other  ancient  and  modern  fabrics.  If  "  Committees 
of  Taste"  be  officially  or  voluntarily  organised,  they  should  give  proofs  of 
taste  in  the  choice  of  situations,  as  well  as  choice  of  subjects,  for  interior 
monuments.  In  passing  through  the  metropolitan  churches  already  named, 
as  well  as  that  at  Bath,  every  person  of  sensibility  and  real  taste  must  be 
more  offended  than  delighted.  Monstrous  masses  of  marble,  with  broken- 
backed  horses,  rampant  and  tame  lions,  figures  of  Time,  Fame,  Angels,  and 
Cherubim,  are  the  component  parts  of  most  of  the  great  monuments ;  whilst 
weeping  Cupids,  inverted  torches,  and  urns  ad  infinitum,  are  the  prevailing 
characteristics  of  the  smaller  tablets.  It  is  high  time  that  this  common-place 
mode  of  sculpture  was  abandoned ;  and  it  is  equally  to  be  wished  that  the 
inappropriate  and  absurd  practice  of  clothing  British  generals  and  statesmen 
in  Roman  togas  was  avoided.  One  English  sculptor  at  least  has  manifested  a 
more  English  feeling  and  a  better  taste ;  and  I  have  no  doubt  that  his  success 
will  lead  to  reformation. 

The  custom  of  interring  bodies  within  churches  is  much  to  be  deplored. 
It  is  not  only  injurious  to  the  stability  of  buildings,  but  is  repugnant  to  all  the 
finer  feelings  of  our  nature.  Can  any  thing  be  more  unpleasant  than  a  know- 
ledge that  the  whole  earth,  or  ground,  beneath  the  flooring  of  a  church, 
consists  of  human  remains  ? — I  must,  however,  forbear  to  express  my  feelings 
on  this  subject ;  for  they  would  create  unhappiness  or  horror  in  the  minds  of 
those  who  are  unaccustomed  to  similar  contemplations.  Whilst  we  are  eager 
to  imitate  the  follies  and  fashions  of  our  Parisian  neighbours,  it  would  be 
creditable  were  we  to  adopt  their  practice  of  having  spacious  cemeteries  on  the 
outside  of  the  city  ;  and  instead  of  storing  up  the  putrid  remains  of  the  dead 
in  edifices  where  the  living  congregate,  to  inter  them  in  more  distant  places. 


CHAPTER  V. 


AN  ESSAY  ON  THE  ORIGIN  AND  CHARACTERISTICS  OF  EPITAPHS,  WITH  EXAMPLES 
OF  VARIOUS  CLASSES  FROM  THE  ABBEY  CHURCH  OF  BATH,  BY  THE  LATE  REV. 
J.  J.  CONYBEARE,  A.M. 

The  custom  of  perpetuating  the  memory  of  the  dead  by  some  monument 
more  durable  than  the  fleeting  and  uncertain  breath  of  tradition,  as  it  appears 
to  be  founded  in  the  most  natural  affections  of  our  species,  may  every  where 
be  traced  to  the  earliest  periods  of  society. 

The  veneration  of  the  Scythian  for  the  tombs  of  his  ancestors,  and  the 
expectation  of  the  Homeric  heroes  that  their  sepulchral  barrows  should  remain 
conspicuous  to  after-ages,  must  be  "  rife  in  our  school-boy  memories,"  while 
the  innumerable  monuments  of  the  latter  description,  scattered  over  the  face 
of  almost  every  country  with  which  we  are  acquainted,  and  forming  especially 
so  prominent  a  feature  among  the  antiquities  of  our  own,  bear  the  strongest 
testimony  to  the  universality  of  the  sentiments  which  produced  their  erec- 
tion. Before  the  invention,  or  at  least  before  the  general  use  of  letters,  the 
principal  means  of  insuring  the  great  object  of  these  structures  was  to  be 
looked  for  in  their  extent  and  solidity. 

The  art  of  writing  promised  at  once  to  reduce  the  expenditure  of  time 
and  labour  necessary  for  their  formation ;  and  to  confer,  even  upon  the 
humblest  individual,  a  memorial,  more  lasting  perhaps  than  could  have  been 
expected  in  ruder  ages  for  the  most  powerful  and  illustrious.  It  is  yet 
remarkable  that  the  earliest  use  made  of  written  characters  in  monumental 
inscriptions,  does  not  appear  to  have  been  that  which  we  should  conceive  to 
be  the  most  natural  aud  obvious.  Those  sepulchral  vases  which  are  sup- 
posed to  be  of  the  remotest  antiquity,  whether  Greek  or  Etruscan,  do  indeed 
occasionally  present  some  traces  of  inscription ;  but  such  inscription  is  uni- 
formly, I  believe,  found  to  refer  rather  to  the  mythological  personages  repre- 
sented in  the  paintings  on  the  exterior,  than  to  those  for  the  reception  of 
whose  ashes  the  vases  were  destined.  A  few  bassi-relievi,  however,  of  an 
age,  it  is  conjectured,  somewhat  earlier  than  that  of  Pericles,  and  which 


ORIGIN  AND  CHARACTERISTICS  OF  EPITAPHS.  69 

appear  to  have  answered  the  purpose  of  sepulchral  monuments,  bear  the 
names  of  individuals ;  and  Thucydides  (lib.  vi.)  has  preserved  four  elegiac 
lines,  which  were  probably  inscribed  on  the  tomb  of  Archidice,  the  sister  of 
Hippias.  The  earlier  of  the  Greek  epitaphs  seem  to  have  been  chiefly  of 
this  latter  description  *  :  and  the  Romans  in  this,  as  in  every  other  department 
of  art  and  literature,  followed  their  example  f.  In  later  ages,  indeed,  they 
appear  to  have  adopted  more  frequently  for  this  purpose  that  concise  and 
peculiar  style  of  prose  which  has  been  denominated  by  critics  the  Lapidary 
style  J.  After  the  decline  of  letters,  we  meet  with  but  few,  if  any,  examples 
of  the  prose  epitaph.  The  Leonine,  or  rhyming  Latin  verse,  was,  during  the 
Middle  Ages,  the  favourite  vehicle  for  the  commemoration  and  praises  of  the 
deceased. 

The  revival  of  classical  learning  in  Italy,  produced,  naturally,  a  recur- 
rence to  classical  models ;  and  the  imitation  was  frequently  so  close,  that 
inscriptions  are  not  wanting  of  which  it  is  difficult  to  pronounce,  whether  they 
are  the  genuine  productions  of  Roman  antiquity,  or  the  forgeries  of  the 
fifteenth  century.  In  more  recent  times,  a  third  species  of  epitaph,  unknown, 
it  is  apprehended,  to  the  ancients,  appears  to  have  had  its  origin,  either  in 
the  difficulty  of  imitating,  or  the  ambition  of  improving  and  ornamenting, 
the  terse  and  simple  construction  of  the  Lapidary  style.  For  this,  which 
(as  from  its  copiousness  and  diffuseness  it  bears  the  character  of  a  funeral 
eulogy  or  oration)  might  fairly  be  termed  the  Rhetorical  epitaph,  we  are  chiefly, 
I  suspect,  indebted  to  the  French  || ;  and  like  many  other  inventions  of  that 
fanciful  people,  it  long  prevailed,  both  in  Latin  and  in  the  more  modern 
languages  of  Europe,  to  the  almost  total  exclusion  of  the  purer  and  more 
graceful  models  of  antiquity.     It  has,  however,  in  some  cases,  (especially 

*  Many  will  be  found  in  the  Anthologia.  They  have  been  published  separately  by  Leichius, 
"  Carmina  Greecorum  Sepulchralia."  4to. 

t  The  epitaphs  of  Ennius  and  Nsevius  are  well  known.  The  "  Inscriptionum  Rom.  Met. 
Delectus"  of  the  late  T.  Warton,  will  furnish  examples  of  the  most  ancient  and  beautiful  poems 
of  this  kind. 

t  It  is  needless  to  adduce  examples  of  this  style ;  they  occur  in  every  page  of  Gruter's 
Collection. 

||  See  the  epitaphs  of  Crequy  and  of  Richelieu,  in  Popham's  "  Elogia  Sepulchralia.^  In  this 
country,  the  Rhetorical  epitaph,  as  I  have  ventured  to  name  it,  became  very  popular  after  the 
Restoration,  and  was  in  some  instances  extended  to  a  most  fatiguing  length.  Those  of  South 
and  Nelson,  (vide  Popham,  Elogia  Sepulchralia,)  will  afford  very  favourable  specimens  of  that 
style.    That  of  Mead  is  equally  well  written,  and  has  the  merit  of  being  considerably  shorter. 


70  BATH  ABBEY  CHURCH. 

within  the  last  half  century,)  been  rendered  somewhat  less  cumbrous,  by 
a  nearer  approach  to  those  models  * ;  and,  in  a  few  instances,  the  writers  of 
Latin  inscriptions  have  altogether  returned  to  the  imitation  of  their  original 
masters  f.  We  have  now  briefly  traced  the  progress  and  the  various  forms  of 
the  monumental  inscription.  Which  of  those  in  present  use  is  most  agree- 
able to  the  principles  of  good  taste,  and  in  what  manner  each  may  be  most 
successfully  treated,  are  questions  of  which  the  limits  of  a  work  like  the 
present  must  necessarily  preclude  all  discussion.  On  the  subject,  indeed, 
of  metrical  epitaphs,  little  could  be  added  to  the  well-known  criticisms  of 
Johnson,  and  to  the  admirable  observations  which  Warton  has  prefixed  to 
his  Collection  of  Ancient  Roman  Inscriptions. 

With  respect  to  prose  epitaphs,  it  will  perhaps  be  sufficient  to  remark,  that 
modern  criticism  appears  justly  to  have  assigned  the  preference  to  those 
which  approach  most  nearly  to  the  simplicity  and  brevity  of  a  classical  model ; 
and  to  consider  the  lighter  and  more  oratorical  graces  of  style  as  misplaced 
on  a  subject  beyond  all  others  the  most  sacred  and  solemn. 

The  observations  hitherto  offered  have  been  confined  chiefly  to  those  in- 
scriptions in  which  the  Latin  language  has  been  made  the  vehicle  of  post- 
humous eulogy.  For  these  their  authors,  whether  justly  or  unjustly,  antici- 
pated (probably  as  they  wished)  a  permanency  that  would  have  been 
endangered  by  the  adoption  of  any  more  modern  and  variable  dialect. 

As  this  practice,  however,  was  necessarily  restricted  to  the  commemora- 
tion of  persons  of  some  rank  or  eminence,  and  as  various  reasons  concurred 
to  recommend  the  adoption  of  a  medium  more  immediately,  if  not  more 
lastingly,  intelligible,  we  find  the  walls  of  our  churches  occupied,  for  the 
greater  part,  by  inscriptions  in  our  native  tongue.     In  the  composition  of 

*  The  epitaphs  of  Card.  Mazarine,  of  Johnson  on  Goldsmith,  of  Dr.  Parr  on  Johnson  himself, 
and  many  others  of  later  date,  may  be  referred  to  this  description  :  the  chief  characters  of  which 
appear  to  be,  a  greater  attention  to  conciseness,  both  of  the  whole  and  of  the  separate  clauses,  and 
to  purity  of  Latin  style. 

t  See  the  epitaphs  of  Lipsius,  of  Ann.  Caracci,  of  Craggs,  and  of  Shenstone  on  Maria.  More 
might  be  readily  added,  did  we  possess  any  better  selection  than  the  scanty  and  incorrect  one  by 
Popham.  An  epitaph,  in  the  truest  taste  of  antiquity,  beautiful  from  its  extreme  simplicity,  exists 
in  the  Cathedral  of  Christ-Church,  Oxford. 

Jana 

B.  Blayney  Filia 

Eheu !  Unica. 


ORIGIN  AND  CHARACTERISTICS  OF  EPITAPHS.  71 

these,  we  have  had  greater  difficulties  to  overcome  than  in  the  direct  imita- 
tion *of  the  ancients.  Our  language,  encumbered  as  it  is  with  particles,  and 
admitting  little  or  no  inversion  of  sentence,  accommodates  itself  at  best  but 
indifferently  to  the  purer  and  more  concise  style  of  Lapidary  inscriptions. 
Hence,  perhaps,  it  has  arisen,  that  the  more  considerable  portion  of  English 
prose  epitaphs,  may  be  referred  rather  to  that  class  which  has  been  termed 
Rhetorical ;  and  that  very  few  (in  comparison  with  the  numbers  which  crowd 
the  interior  and  exterior  of  our  various  places  of  worship)  have  been  found 
to  attract  the  admiration  of  critical  readers. 

It  is  the  writer's  intention  and  wish  that  these,  and  all  the  foregoing 
remarks,  should  be  considered  as  applicable  to  the  manner  only,  and  not  to 
the  matter  and  spirit  of  an  epitaph.  The  discussion  of  these  points,  while 
he  confesses  them  to  be  of  much  higher  importance,  he  does  not  feel  called 
to  enter  upon  in  a  work  of  this  nature.  Many  epitaphs,  doubtless,  which 
contain  but  little  to  attract  the  mere  scholar,  are  calculated  to  produce  the 
most  unexceptionable  and  edifying  impressions  on  the  mind  of  the  Christian  ; 
and  in  some  unhappy  instances,  the  most  unquestionable  purity  and  beauty 
of  style  have  been  employed  for  purposes  which  piety  must  disavow,  and 
which  none  but  a  mistaken  charity  could  sanction.  May  it  not  fairly  be 
added,  that  he  who  examines  the  subject  in  this  more  serious  point  of  view, 
will  find  much  reason  to  lament  that  the  feelings  of  Christian  humility  are  not 
more  frequently  and  strongly  recorded,  where  they  might  so  reasonably 
be  expected,  iu  the  last  memorials  of  human  frailty  ? 


In  examining  the  sacred  edifices  of  a  City  which  has  afforded  for  so  many 
centuries  a  place  of  constant  and  general  resort  to  persons  of  every  rank 
and  description,  we  might  reasonably  expect  to  find  the  monumental  in- 
scriptions which  they  contain  superior,  both  in  number  and  interest,  to  those 
which  would  occur,  under  common  circumstances,  in  any  town  of  equal  popu- 
lation. So  far,  indeed,  as  number  is  concerned,  the  Abbey  Church  will  by 
no  means  disappoint  such  an  anticipation :  nearly  the  whole  interior  of  the 
nave  and  principal  ailes  is  covered  with  these  records  of  mortality ;  and 
we  are  reminded,  at  every  step,  of  the  common  destiny  which  has  equalised 
the  hero,  the  scholar,  and  the  philosopher,  with  the  more  peaceful  and 
unambitious  children  of  commerce  and  industry  who  repose  by  their  side. 


72  BATH  ABBEY  CHURCH. 

A  complete  collection  of  these  memorials  would  far  exceed  the  proposed 
limits  of  the  present  account.  A  few,  therefore,  of  the  more  remarkable 
in  each  department  have  been  selected,  and  arranged  agreeably  to  the  order 
sketched  out  in  the  foregoing  observations. 


EPITAPHS  IN  VERSE. 

The  earliest  specimen  of  Latin  verse  which  occurs,  is  to  be  found  in  the 
epitaph  of  Bartholomew  Barnes,  who  died  in  the  early  part  of  the 
reign  of  James  I.  The  lines  themselves  present  nothing  very  striking,  either 
as  to  poetry  or  Latinity. 

In  obitum  Barthoi.om.ei  Barnes  defuncti,  viri  verse  religionis  amantissimi,  nuper  mer- 
catoris  Londinensis,  nuncque  coelorum  regni  civis  beati. 

Religio,  pietas,  facundae  gratia  linguae, 

Ingenium,  virtus,  inviolata  fides, 
Cum  gravitate  lepos,  cum  simplicitate  venustas, 

Larga  manus,  pectus  nobile,  firmus  amor  : 
Denique  quicquid  habet  natura  quod  addere  possit, 

Addere  quod  possit  gratia,  quicquid  habet. 
Omnia  Barnaum  vivum  comitata  fuerunt, 

Omnia  mors  atrox  obruit  ista  simul. 
Obruat  ista  licet  tristi  mors  saeva  sepulchro, 

Attamen  illorum  fama  superstes  erit*. 

The  classical  reader  will  doubtless  receive  greater  pleasure  from  the  fol- 
lowing lines,  which  appear  to  have  proceeded  from  the  pen  of  the  Rev. 
W.  L.  Bowles,  and  commemorate  the  Rev.  J.  Honeywood,  M.A. : — 

Quae  vox  ex  imo  pervenit  missa  sepulchro  ? 
Desine  tu  conjux,  sola  relicta,  queri. 

*  Sir  John  Harington  refers  to  this  monument,  when  speaking  of  the  Abbey  Church,  in  his 
memoir  of  Bishop  King.  ("  Nugae  Antiquee,"  vol.  ii.  p.  143.  Park's  edition.)  He  says,  "  In  so  much 
as  a  wealthy  citizen  of  London  hath  adventured  to  set  his  tomb  there,  whom  I  commend  more 
worthily  than  the  senate  of  Rome  did  thank  Varro  at  his  return  from  Cannae,  qubd  de  salute 
reipublicce  wore  desperdsset ;  for  it  seems  this  honest  citizen  did  not  despaire  of  the  re-edifying  this 
Church,  that  gave  order  to  be  richly  entombed  therein." 


ORIGIN  AND  CHARACTERISTICS  OF  EPITAPHS.  73 

En  !  anima  exultans  coelo  spatiatur  et  alte 

Despicit  humanas,  libera,  lseta,  vices. 
Te  solum  fido  reminiscitur  anxia  amore, 

Et  paulum  fractas  plorat  amicitias  ; 
Donee  tempus  erit  quum  nubila  cuncta  recedent, 

Nosq  ;  iterum  seterno  foedere  junget  amor. 

Would  it  not  improve  the  beauty  of  this  elegant  and  affectionate  little 
composition,  if  something  less  trite  were  substituted  for  the  present  termina- 
tion of  the  seventh  line  ?  And  might  it  not  be  objected,  that  the  word 
amicitias  is  scarcely  of  sufficient  strength  to  express  conjugal  attachment  ? 

Among  the  Epitaphs  in  English  Verse,  the  following  will  afford  no  unfa- 
vourable specimen  of  the  monumental  poetry  of  the  earlier  part  of  the  seven- 
teenth century.  I  know  not  whether  the  particulars  to  which  it  appears  to 
allude,  are  any  where  more  circumstantially  recorded. 

In  spe  resvrrectionis  hie  jacet  Corpvs  Johannis  Wally,  qvonda. :  maior  hvivs  civitatis  :  qvi 
obiit  4to  die  Aprilis. 

Those  blvsteringe  storms,  which  threat  the  blessed  peace 

Of  virtves  sovle,  nere  her  departvre  cease, 

Like  mistie  vapovrs  which  obsevre  the  svn, 

Yet  often  vanish  ere  his  covrse  be  done ; 

True  worth  hath  wings  to  beare  her  spotless  name 

Above  the  reach  of  ill  begotten  fame. 

Witnesse  the  aged  tenant  of  this  tombe, 

Whose  harmless  life  was  subject  to  the  doome 

Of  headstrong  rashness  ;  but  since  here  he  lay, 

Error's  revers'd,  and  trvth  hath  got  the  day : 

In  Heaven,  kind  reader,  is  his  spirit  blest, 

Bless  thov  his  name,  and  let  his  body  rest. 

Anno  Domini  1615. 

The  epitaphs  of  Walter  Ernele,  and  the  Lady  Jane  Waller  have 
perhaps  little  more  than  their  antiquity  to  entitle  them  to  notice  :— 

Here  lyeth  the  body  of  Walter  Ernele,  Esq. ;  sonne  of  Michael  Ernele,  of  Burton,  in  the 
county  of  Wilts,  esq.  deceased,  and  of  Susan,  the  eldest  daughter,  and  one  of  the  coheires  of 
Sir  Walter  Hungerford,  knt.,  of  Farley-castle,  in  the  county  of  Somerset,  also  deceased. 
Which  Walter  Ernele  died  the  27th  day  of  Sept.  A0.  Dni.  1618. 

An  Ernele  Hungerford  lyeth  here  in  grave ; 
More  than  thy  owne,  O  earth,  thou  maist  not  have  : 
L 


74  BATH  ABBEY  CHURCH. 

His  earthy  part,  his  body,  that  is  thine  ; 
His  heavenly,  his  soule,  that  part  divine, 
Is  Heaven's  right ;  there  doth  it  live  and  raigne, 
In  joye  and  blisse  for  ever  to  remaine. 
His  body  in  her  bosome  earth  must  keepe 
Till  such  as  rest  in  hope  shall  rise  from  sleepe ; 
Then  body  joyned  with  sowle  for  ever  shall 
In  glory  live,  raigne  both  coelestiall. 


To  the  deare  memory  of  the  right  vertuous  and  worthy  lady,  Jane  Lady  Waller,  sole 
daughter  and  heir  to  Sir  Richard  Reynell,  wife  to  Sir  Wm.  "Waller,  knight. 

Sole  issue  of  a  matchless  paire, 
Both  of  their  state  and  vertues  heyre ; 
In  graces  great,  in  stature  small, 
As  full  of  spirit  as  voyd  of  gall ; 
Cheerfully  brave,  bounteously  close, 
Holy  without  vain-glorious  showes ; 
Happy,  and  yet  from  envy  free, 

Learn 'd  without  pride,  witty,  yet  wise — ■ 
Reader,  this  riddle  read  with  mee, 

Here  the  good  Lady  Waller  lye's. 

The  epitaph,  or  rather  elegy,  written  by  Dryden,  upon  Mary  Frampton, 
is  well  known  to  every  reader  of  English  poetry.  It  exhibits  much  of  the 
fancy  and  power  of  expression  of  its  great  author,  though  somewhat  alloyed 
by  the  quaintness  of  his  age,  and  possessing  more  of  ingenuity  than  of 
nature  or  feeling. 

Here  lies  the  body  of  Mary,  third  daughter  of  Rich.  Frampton,  of  Moreton,  in  Dorset- 
shire, Esq.  and  of  Jane  his  wife,  sole  daughter  of  Sir  Francis  Cottington,  of  Fonthill,  in 
Wilts;  who  was  born  January  the   1st,  1676-7,  and  dyed  (after  seven  weeks'  sickness)  on 

the   6th  of  September,   1698. This  Monument  was  erected  by  Catharine  Frampton,  her 

second  sister  and  executress,  in  testimony  of  her  grief,  affection,  and  gratitude. 

Below  this  marble  monument  is  laid 
All  that  Heaven  wants  of  this  celestial  mayd  : 
Preserve,  O  sacred  tomb,  thy  trust  consign'd  ! 
The  mould  was  made  on  purpose  for  the  mind ; 
And  she  would  lose,  if  at  the  latter  day, 
One  atom  could  be  mixed  of  other  clay. 
Such  were  the  features  of  her  heav'nly  face, 
Her  limbs  were  formed  with  such  harmonious  grace, 


ORIGIN  AND  CHARACTERISTICS  OF  EPITAPHS.  75 

So  faultless  was  the  frame, — as  if  the  whole 
Had  been  an  emanation  of  the  soul, 
Which  her  own  inward  symmetry  reveal'd, 
And  like  a  picture  shone,  in  glass  anneal'd ; 
Or,  like  the  sun  eclips'd,  with  shaded  light, 
Too  piercing  else  to  be  sustain'd  by  sight. 

Each  thought  was  visible  that  roll'd  within, — 
As  through  a  chrystal  case  the  figur'd  hours  are  seen  : 
And  Heaven  did  this  transparent  veil  provide, 
Because  she  had  no  guilty  thought  to  hide. 
All  white,  a  virgin  saint,  she  sought  the  skies — 
For  marriage,  though  it  sullies  not  —  it  dies  ! 
High  though  her  wit,  yet  humble  was  her  mind, 
As  if  she  cou'd  not,  or  she  wou'd  not,  find 
How  much  her  worth  transcended  all  her  kind. 
Yet  she  had  learn'd  so  much  of  heaven,  below, 
That  when  arriv'd,  she  scarce  had  more  to  know  ; 
But  only  to  refresh  the  former  hint, 
And  read  her  Maker  in  a  fairer  print ! 
So  pious  !  as  she  had  no  time  to  spare 
For  human  thoughts, — but  seem'd  confin'd  to  prayer ; 
Yet  in  such  charities  she  pass'd  the  day, 
'Twas  wond'rous  how  she  found  an  hour  to  pray. 
A  soul  so  calm,  it  knew  not  ebbs  nor  flows, 
Which  passion  cou'd  but  curl — not  discompose! 
A  female  softness,  with  a  manly  mind, 
A  daughter  duteous,  and  a  sister  kind ; 
In  sickness  patient !  and  in  death  resign'c 


1 


ign'd!  J 


The  epitaph  on  Quin,  by  Garrick,  though  almost  too  generally  known  to 
require  insertion  in  the  present  work,  is  so  extremely  appropriate,  that  not  to 
give  it  might  be  deemed  negligence. 

That  tongue  which  set  the  table  in  a  roar, 
And  charm'd  the  publick  ear,  is  heard  no  more ; 
Clos'd  are  those  eyes,  the  harbingers  of  wit, 
Which  spake,  before  the  tongue,  what  Shakespear  writ ; 
Cold  is  that  hand  which,  living,  was  stretch'd  forth, 
At  friendship's  call,  to  succour  modest  worth. 
Here  lies  James  Quin  !  —  Deign,  reader,  to  be  taught, 
Whate'er  thy  strength  of  body,  force  of  thought, 
In  Nature's  happiest  mould  however  cast, 
"  To  this  complexion  thou  must  come  at  last." 

D.  Garrick. 

Ob.  mdcclxvi.  iEtatis  lxxiii. 


76  BATH  ABBEY  CHURCH. 

Of  recent  date,  the  following  are  among  the  more  remarkable  : — 

Sacred  to  the  memory  of  William  Clements,  Esq.  a  youth  distinguished  by  the  sweet- 
ness of  his  manners,  arid  the  excellence  of  his  heart.  Generous,  humane,  affectionate,  his  life 
was  a  source  of  happiness  to  others ;  his  death,  it  is  hoped,  was  the  commencement  of  his  own. 

Look  down,  blest  soul,  and  from  the  realms  above 
Accept  this  last  sad  tribute  of  our  love  : 
The  last — ev'n  now  our  sorrows  we  resign, 
And  lose  our  feelings  to  rejoice  in  thine. 

In  this  City  lived  and  died  Sarah,  second  daughter  of  General  Henry  Fielding  ;  by 
his  first  wife,  daughter  of  Judge  Gould. 

Whose  writings  will  be  known, 

As  incentives  to  virtue,  and  honour  to  her  sex, 

When  this  marble  shall  be  dust. 

She  was  born  mdccxiv.  and  died  April  mdcclxviii. 

Her  unaffected  manners,  candid  mind, 

Her  heart  benevolent,  and  soul  resign'd, 

Were  more  her  praise  than  all  she  knew  or  thought, 

Though  Athens'  wisdom  to  her  sex  she  taught. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  John  Hoadly,  her  Friend,  for  the  honour  of  the  Dead  and  emulation  of  the 
Living,  inscribes  this  deficient  Memorial  of  her  virtues  and  accomplishments. 


Elizabeth  Honeywood, 

Died  Feb.  9,  1812. 

Mild,  patient,  pious,  charitable,  just, 

Go  rest  in  peace  beside  thy  husband's  dust. 

Whilst  all  to  whom  thy  memory  is  dear, 

Bend  o'er  thine  ashes  with  a  silent  tear. 

A  few  short  years  these  pensive  lines  they  trace, 

Then  follow  to  Earth's  common  resting-place  ; 

Blest,  if,  like  thee,  to  the  last  hour  approv'd, 

They  live  as  blameless  as  they  die  belov'd. 

W.  L.  Bowles. 

The  following  lines,  inscribed  on  the  monument  of  Ely  Bates  (the  well- 
known  author  of  "  Rural  Philosophy"  and  other  works  of  a  religious  and 
moral  tendency),  are  said  to  have  been  found  in  his  own  hand-writing,  after 
his  decease,  in  1814. 

Ask  not  who  ended  here  his  span  ; 

His  name,  reproach,  and  praise,  was  Man  ! 


ORIGIN  AND  CHARACTERISTICS  OF  EPITAPHS.  77 


1 

1.    J 


Did  no  great  deeds  adorn  his  course, 

No  deeds  to  swell  the  poet's  verse  ? 

To  courts  and  camps  alike  unknown, 

To  senates,  or  the  bustling  town  : 

Retirement  ciaim'd  him  for  her  own. 

Warn'd  by  Heaven's  kind  though  secret  voice, 

His  steps,  averse  from  pomp  and  noise, 

To  peaceful  solitude  he  bent, 

On  contemplation  still  intent. 

Each  topic  drew  his  active  mind, 

Nor  least  the  world  he  left  behind. 

Oft  he  survey'd  its  busy  stage  : 

Mark'd  the  great  actors  of  the  age, 

After  a  fretful  hour's  debate, 

Passing  to  their  eternal  state. 

Thus,  while  he  view'd  the  fleeting  train, 

Life  appear'd  sacred  all,  and  vain  : 

"  Sacred  how  high,  and  vain  how  low, 

He  knew  not  here — but  died  to  know  !" 

From  the  occasional  inaccuracy  and  obscurity  of  this  composition  (particu- 
larly observable  towards  the  close),  it  is  probable  that  it  never  received  the 
last  corrections  of  its  respectable,  though  eccentric  author*. 

To  these  may  be  added,  the  following  inscription  on  the  monument  of 
Lady  Miller,  wife  of  Sir  John  Miller,  knt.,  of  Bath-Easton  Villa;  Ob. 
June  24th,  1781. 

Devoted  stone  !  amidst  the  wrecks  of  time 

Uninjur'd  bear  thy  Miller's  spotless  name  ; 
The  virtues  of  her  youth  and  ripen'd  prime, 

The  tender  thought,  th'  enduring  record  claim. 

*  The  concluding  lines  (marked  on  the  monument  as  a  quotation,)  are  usually  condemned  by 
visitors  as  entirely  unintelligible.  This  is  perhaps  too  severe  a  judgment.  Mr.  Bates  has  attempted 
to  express,  with  more  conciseness  than  our  language  will  bear,  a  truth,  in  itself  as  simple  as  it  is 
important.  "  The  man  who,  from  a  distance,  views  with  the  eye  of  a  Christian  and  a  philosopher 
the  course  of  human  affairs,  while  he  recognises  the  high  and  sacred  purposes  for  which  our 
existence  was  bestowed  upon  us,  will  see  more  clearly  the  vanity  and  unworthiness  of  the  uses  to 
which  it  is  too  frequently  applied.  In  his  present  state,  however,  he  cannot  expect  to  compre- 
hend (to  their  full  extent)  either  the  former  or  the  latter.  To  know  these,  he  must  be  admitted 
to  that  sanctuary,  where  alone  the  motives  and  conduct  of  rational  agents  will  be  justly  appreciated, 
and  their  final  destination  fully  understood."  The  known  piety  and  usefulness  of  the  author's 
writings  will  perhaps  justify  the  purport  and  excuse  the  length  of  this  note. 


78  BATH  ABBEY  CHURCH. 

When  clos'd  the  num'rous  eyes  that  round  this  bier 
Have  wept  the  loss  of  wide-extended  worth ; 

O  gentle  stranger  !  may  one  gen'rous  tear 
Drop,  as  thou  bendest  o'er  this  hallow'd  earth  ! 

Are  truth  and  genius,  love  and  pity  thine, 
With  lib'ral  charity,  and  faith  sincere  1 

Then  rest  thy  wand'ring  step  beneath  this  shrine, 
And  greet  a  kindred  spirit  hov'ring  near. 


EPITAPHS  IN  LATIN  PROSE. 

Epitaphs  in  the  style  which  has  been  termed  Lapidary,  are  of  very  rare 
occurrence  on  these  walls.  The  following  words,  on  the  monument  of  Su- 
sanna Chapman,  "  Pia  Pulchra  PudicaPuerpera,"  were  they  not  preceded 
by  the  memorials  of  her  name  and  family  in  English,  would  afford  the  nearest 
approach  to  a  classical  model. 

Of  the  quaint  and  rhetorical  style  of  1627,  the  epitaph  of  T.  Martin 
is  a  curious  specimen. 

Juxta  repositi  sunt 
(Spiritus  Sancti  nuper  sedes) 

Sacri  cineres 

Thomje  Martyn,  Arm.  A.M. 

Exonio  :  Devoniensis, 

Qui  obiit  die  X.  Sept.  A.S.  1627. 

Ignotis  tibi,  tui  ignaris  meriti 

Loquentem  struimus,  Martine,  tumulum, 

Qui  tuae  rependat  debitum  memoriae, 

Referatque  posteris 

iEtatem  in  juvene  perfectam,  compositos  mores, 

Ingenium  suaviter  fertile, 

Animum  virtutis  et  doctrinee  saturum, 

Judicium  pene  minim,  maturum,  solidum, 

Affectus  humiles,  nobiles, 

Amorem  omnibus,  fidem  amicis  preestitam, 

Religionis  cultusque  divini 

Summe  supplicem,  vindicemque, 

Omnia  demum  foelicem 

Utut  tarn  ingenti  animo  infirmam  substaret  corpus. 

Vos  qui  novistis,  quosque  novit,  lectores 


ORIGIN  AND  CHARACTERISTICS  OF  EPITAPHS.  79 

Nobilius  dignemini  sepulchrum; 

Vivoque  erigite  pectore  Mausoleeum  ; 

Vobisque  cara  sit  Memoria, 

Vobiscum  resurrecturi  ad  Gloriam. 

To  the  same  class,  (though  it  is  less  characteristic  than  the  above,)  may 
be  referred  the  pompous  epitaph  on  Sir  W.  Draper  ;  said  to  have  been  com- 
posed by  the  late  Christopher  Anstey  : 

H.  S.  E. 

Vir  summis  cum  Animi,  turn  corporis  Dotibus 

Egregie  ornatus, 

Gulielmus  Draper,  Balnei  Eques. 

In  Schola  Etonensi  educatus, 

Coll.  deinde  Regal.  Cantabrigise  et  alumnus  et  socius. 

Quorum  utrumque  tarn  moribus  quam  studiis  honestavit. 

Altiore  tamen  a  natura  ingenio  prseditus 

Quam  ut  umbratili 

In  academies  otio  delitesceret, 

Ad  militise  laudem  se  totum  contulit, 

Et  in  diversis  Europse  Asieeque  partibus  stipendia  meruit. 

In  India  Orientali  A.D.  1758,  exercitui  regio  imperavit. 

Obsessamque  a  Gallis  Sti.  Georgii  Arcem 

Cum  diu  fortiter  defendisset, 

Strenua  tandem  facta  eruptione, 

Hostium  copias,  capta  legionis  Praefecto  repulit. 

Flagrante  postea  Hispaniensi  bello,  anno  1762, 

Expeditionis  contra  Manillas, 

Auctor  idem  et  dux  fuit : 

Quibus  expugnandis,  dubium  reliquit, 

Britanniee  nomen  virtute  magis,  an  dementia  insignaverit. 

Vale  Dux  acer ! 

Vir  mansuete,  liberalis,  vale  ! 

Hoc  fidum  tuarum  virtutum,  spectatseque  a  pueris  amicitiae, 

posteris  exemplar  tradam. 

Ob.  Jan.  A.D.  1787.     jEtat.  66.  C.  A. 

The  following  (though  not  strictly  in  the  Lapidary  style)  seem  intended 
to  approach  more  nearly  to  the  classical  model : 

Jacobo  Antonio  Migliovaccio.  And®,  filio, 

Patricio  Tifemati  Nob.  Civi  Florentino, 

Qui,  cum  difficili  morbo  colluctatus, 

Quum  ad  haec  balnea  se  curaturus  recepisset, 


80  BATH  ABBEY  CHURCH. 

In  medio  eetatis  fortunarumque  cursu, 

Eheu  immaturus  obiit 

Annum  agens  XXXVIII. 

Petrus  Josephus  Frater,  Londini, 

Cseterique  Fratres,  Florentise  commorantes, 

Fratri  optimo  ac  piissimo, 

Beneficiis  ejus  aucti, 

Grati  animi  et  pietatis  ergo 

Moerentes  posuerunt. 


M.  S. 

Egregii  Viri 

Gulielmi  Melmoth,  Armigeri ; 

Qui,  abhinc  annos  fere  quadraginta, 

In  hanc  urbem  se  recipiens, 

Inter  amoena  studiorum  otia, 

Et  eruditorum  elegantem  consuetudinem, 

Ipse,  neque  inelegans  nee  ineruditus, 

Placide  consenuit. 

Inque  vera  fide  Christiana, 

Quam  scriptis  tuebatur, 

Vita  commendaverat, 

Senectuti  placide  succubuit, 

A.D.  1799,  tetatis  suae  89. 

Quantis  ille  animi  et  ingeuii, 

Laudibus  florebat, 

(Quas  marmor  hoc  frustra  attingat,) 

Testantur, 

Quod  bonis  omnibus  reliquit 

Sui  desiderium ; 

Quae  patriae, 

Literarum  ornamenta. 

Huic  suo,  a  teneris, 

Amico,  custodi,  tutori, 

Cognatione  avunculo,  afiectu  parenti, 

Pignus  hocce 

Amoris  in  amicum  amici, 

Pietatis  in  parentem  filii, 

Moerens  consecravit. 


H.  S.  E. 

Caleb  Hillier  Parry,  M.D.  R.S.S. 

Vir  probus, 


ORIGIN  AND  CHARACTERISTICS  OF  EPITAPHS. 


81 


Cultor  Dei  pius, 

Medicus  sagax. 

Artem  qua  pollebat, 

In  hac  urbe,  per  annos  fere  XL. 

Ingenio,  moribus, 

Multiplici  litterarum  cognitione, 

Exomavit : 

Scientia,  naturae  indagatione  perspicaci, 

Feliciter  promovit. 

Ne  tanto  nomini 

Ulla  pars  observantiae 

Desideraretur, 

Amici,  eadem  arte  consociati, 

Hoc  marmor 

P.  C. 

Vixit  annos  LXVI.  Ob'.  IX.  die  Mens.  Mart. 

A.  S.  1822. 


Juxta  tumulatus  est 

Johannes  Sibtiiorp,  M.D.  R.S.S. 

Botanices 

In  Academia  Oxoniensi 

Professor, 

Rerum  Naturalium  Investigation! 

Per  vitam  brevem  deditus, 

Phytologiae  in  primis  amantissimus, 

Regiones  longinquitate  ac  metu 

Peregrinantibus  tantum  non  impervias, 

Adversa  dissuadente  valetudine, 

Obstantibus  insuper  ex  omni  parte 

Periculis,  exploravit. 

Itineris  molestiarum  pleni, 

Quod  per  Greciam  nuper  confecerat, 

Labore  oppressus, 

Obiit  Bathoniae, 

Die  octavo  Februarii, 

Anno  aetatis  suae  tricesimo  octavo, 

Christi  1800. 


An  object  of  equal  interest  will  be  found  in  the  epitaph  of  the  late  vene- 
rable translator  and  annotator  of  Mosheim's  Ecclesiastical  History. 


Subtus  jacent  reliquiae 

Archibaldi  Maclaine, 

Ecclesiae  Anglicanae  apud  Hagam  Comitis, 

Per  quinquaginta  annos, 

Pastoris  dilectissimi. 

Ingenuus,  eruditus,  pius, 

jEque  mira  suavitate  morum 

Ac  fama  scientiae  praeclara 

Fuit  ornatus. 


Mortalium  curis  tandem  defatigatus, 

Et,  quo  propior,  eo  laetior, 

Ad  ccelum  prospiciens, 

In  amplexu  Dei  placide  quievit 

XXV.  Nov.  1804, 

iEtat.  82. 

Amicissimus  H.  Hope, 

H.  M.  P.  C. 


The  inscription  for  the  late  Dr.  Harington,  will  appropriately  terminate 
this  class. 


Memoriae  Sacrum 

Henrici  Harington,  M.D. 

Ex  vere  nobili  Having tonorum  stirpe  de  Kelston, 

In  agro  Somerset  oriundi : 

Qui,  natus  Septembris  29,  A.D.  1727, 

Obiit  Januarii  15,  A.D.  1816; 

Per  sexaginta  annos  suae  Bathoniae  saluti 


Omnibus  officiis  assidue  studebat, 

Optimas  artes  ad  municipum  suorum 

Delectationem  et  utilitatem  excolens  : 

Medicus  solers  et  fidelis  : 

Poeta  lepidus  : 

Musicus  sciens  et  peritus  : 

Magistratus  gravis,  Justus,  acer  : 


M 


82 


BATH  ABBEY  CHURCH. 


Erga  suos  amantissimus, 

Erga  omnes  comis  et  benevolus  : 

Tanta.  insuper  sanctitate  morum, 

Ut  omnes  animi  sui  facultates, 

Quantum  humanee  vitse  ratio  pateretur, 


Deo  dicandas  esse  judicaret. 
Hoc  marmor,  pecunia  publice  conlata,  poni  cu- 
raverunt 
Amici  deflentes. 


EPITAPHS  IN  ENGLISH  PROSE. 


la  this  class  the  Abbey  Church  offers  but  little  that  is  remarkable  for 
excellence,  either  of  matter  or  of  language.  The  amiable  character  of  a  well- 
conducted  female  in  the  middle  walks  of  life,  is  depicted  in  the  following  in- 
scription, with  a  simplicity  which  may  amuse  our  readers  : — 


In  memory  of  Rebecca  Leyborne, 

Interr'd  at  the  foot  of  this  pillar. 

Born  June  the  4th,  1698. 

Deceased  February  18,  1756. 

A  Wife  more  than  twenty-three  years  to  Robert 

Leyborne,  D.D. 

(Rector  of  the  Churches  of  St.  Dunstan,  Stepney, 

and  of  St.  Ann's,  Middlesex,  near  London  ; 

and  Principal  of  Alban-Hall,  in  Oxford,) 

Who  never  saw  her  once  ruffled  with  anger, 

Or  heard  her  utter  even  a  peevish  word ; 

Whether  pain'd,  or  injur'd,  the  same  good  woman, 


In  whose  mouth,  as  in  whose  character, 

Was  no  contradiction  : 

Resign'd,  gentle,  courteous,  affable  ; 

Without  passion,  though  not  without  sense, 

She  took  offence  as  little  as  she  gave  it ; 

She  never  was,  or  made  an  enemy ; 

To  servants  mild  ;  to  relations  kind  ; 

To  the  poor  a  friend ;  to  the  stranger  hospitable  ; 

Always  caring  how  to  please  her  husband, 

Yet  not  less  attentive  to  the  one  thing  needful. 

How  few  will  be  able  to  equal, 

What  all  should  endeavour  to  imitate  ! 


The  epitaph  on  Col.  A.  Norton  will  be  more  interesting  to  the  antiquary 
than  to  the  critic. 

"  Here  under  lyes  all  that  was  mortal  of  Col.  Ambrose  Norton,  worthy  and  loyal  de- 
scendant of  worthy  and  loyal  ancestors.  He  served  the  crowne  of  England  above  40  years,  in 
employments  both  civil  and  military;  in  which  he  ever  acquitted  himself  faithfully,  and  as  a 
man  of  honour.  He  was  exceeding  gracefull  in  person  and  behaviour  ;  his  justice,  gentleness, 
and  sweetness  of  disposition,  were  equall  to  his  courage ;  and  he  crown'd  all  his  other  virtues 
with  a  most  exemplary  piety.  He  was  a  branch  of  the  ancient  family  of  the  Nortons,  of 
Somersetshire,  and  cousin-german  to  Sir  George  Norton,  of  Abbot's-Leigh  in  that  county; 
a  house  happily  renowned  in  history  for  the  concealment  and  preservation  of  King  Charles  the 
Second,  after  the  fatal  battle  at  Worcester.  The  Lady  Norton,  having  been  a  widdow  3  years, 
first  of  Sir  George  Norton,  (to  whose  memory  she  has  erected  a  marble  monument  at  Abbot's- 
Leigh,  of  the  same  form  and  dimention  as  this,)  and  since  the  widdow  of  Col.  Ambrose  Norton, 
has  in  her  great  regard  to  his  memory  erected  this  monument ;  where  he  desired  his  body  might 
be  interred,  expecting  a  blessed  resurrection.  He  died  in  the  77th  year  of  his  age,  on  the 
10th  day  of  September,  in  the  10th  year  of  his  Majesty  King  George,  his  last  Royall  Master, 
Annoq.  Dom.  1723." 


ORIGIN  AND  CHARACTERISTICS  OP  EPITAPHS.  83 

The  present  selection  may  be  closed  with  the  remarkable  termination  of 
an  epitaph,  lately  inscribed  to  the  memory  of  Dame  Elizabeth  Napier 
Webb:  after  an  enumeration  of  the  lady's  titles  and  connexions,  the  writer 
has  added  the  following  address  : 

Reader,  Ask  thine  own  heart 

If  such  thou  art  from  heedless  curiosity,  for  what  is  wanting  here. 

Enough  is  told  thee  ;  Vale,  Matrum  optima  ! 

But  if  thou  hast  lost  a  parent  Ave,  Anima  beata  ! 
Ever  kind,  ever  liberal,  ever- self-denying, 


Some  few  of  the  monuments  in  this  Church  deserve  notice  for  the  taste 
and  skill  displayed  in  their  invention  and  execution.  That  of  Colonel  Robert 
Walsh,  (who  died  Sept.  12th,  1788,)  in  which  a  broken  column  is  intended 
to  represent  the  extinction  of  an  ancient  family,  has  been  praised  by  Mr. 
Warner.  The  monument  lately  erected  to  the  memory  of  the  well-known 
Mr.  Walsh  Porter,  (ob.  1809,)  presents  a  symbol  equally  ingenious  arid 
appropriate.  On  an  altar,  dedicated  to  Taste  and  Genius,  is  a  lamp,  the  flame 
of  which  has  just  quitted  its  socket,  and  is  seen  aspiring  to  its  native  skies. 

The  basso-relievo,  executed  by  Flaxman,  for  the  monument  of  Dr.  Sib- 
thorp,  deserves  to  be  rendered  more  generally  known  by  the  graver;  and 
two  well-carved  figures  by  the  same  artist,  (angels  or  genii,  bearing  civic 
crowns,)  ornament  that  of  W.  Bingham,  late  senator  of  the  United  States*. 

*  Among  other  persons  interred  in  the  Abbey  Church,  (whose  epitaphs  would  demand  for 
their  insertion  too  great  a  portion  of  these  pages,  and  perhaps  also  of  the  reader's  patience,)  it 
may  be  requisite  to  particularise  the  names  of  Sir  William  Baker,  Knt.,  Dr.  Wall,  of  Worcester, 
Sir  William  Blount,  Bart.,  Sir  Nigell  Gresley,  Bart.,  and  the  well-known  Beau  Nash.  The  epitaph 
for  the  latter,  said  to  have  been  written  by  the  late  Dr.  Harington,  and  inadvertently  omitted 
in  the  text,  claims  our  notice,  both  from  its  own  merit,  and  the  local  celebrity  of  its  object. 

Adeste  O  Cives,  adeste  Lugentes  !  If  social  virtues  make  remembrance  dear, 

Hie  silent  Leges  Or  manners  pure  on  decent  rule  depend ; 

Ricardi  Nash,  Armig.  To  His  remains  consign  one  grateful  tear, 

Nihil  amplius  imperantis  ;  Of  youth  the  Guardian,  and  of  all  the  Friend. 
Qui  diu  et  utilissime 

Assumptus  Bathonise  Now  sleeps  Dominion  ;  here  no  Bounty  flows ; 

Elegantiee  Arbiter,  Nor  more  avails  the  festive  scene  to  grace, 

Eheu  !  Beneath  that  Hand  whrch  no  discernment  shews, 

Morti,  (ultimo  designatori)  Untaught  to  honour,  or  distinguish  place. 
Haud  indecore  succubuit, 
Ann.  Dom.  MDCCLXI.  jEtat.  sure  LXXXVII. 
Beatus  ille  qui  sibi  imperiosus  ! 


CHAPTER  VI. 


BIOGRAPHICAL    ANECDOTES    OF    THE    MOST    DISTINGUISHED   PERSONS    INTERRED  IN 

BATH   ABBEY  CHURCH. 


In  pacing  the  ailes  of  this  Church,  as  in  viewing  a  gallery  of  distinguished 
portraits,  every  person  of  sensibility  and  reflection  will  naturally  be  induced 
to  inquire  about  the  lives  and  characters  of  the  persons  whose  memories  are 
recorded  by  the  one,  or  persons  depicted  by  the  other.  This  species  of  in- 
quiry is  not  only  praiseworthy,  but  entitled  to  respect  and  attention ;  as  it 
tends  to  consecrate  and  embalm  merit,  and  bring  false  pretence  and  adven- 
titious notoriety  to  their  real  standard.  Whilst  contemplating  the  monumental 
bust  or  statue,  or  perusing  the  inscribed  tablet,  we  involuntarily  reflect  on 
the  peculiar  chacteristics  of  the  individual  commemorated,  and  feel  an  eager 
desire  to  become  acquainted  with  the  circumstances  that  have  distinguished 
his  life,  and  given  him  a  claim  to  sepulchral  fame.  To  afford  that  informa- 
tion to  the  casual  visitant  or  reader,  and  thus  gratify  laudable  curiosity,  the 
following  biographical  sketches  have  been  penned.  Should  the  facts  detailed, 
or  the  sentiments  inculcated,  tend  to  awaken  and  give  energy  to  judicious 
enterprise  and  honourable  emulation,  the  writer's  intention  will  be  accom- 
plished, and  his  best  wishes  gratified.  In  preparing  them  for  the  press,  all 
the  known  sources  of  information  have  been  consulted ;  and  in  addition  to 
the  particulars  thus  acquired,  new  facts  and  circumstances  have  been  incor- 
porated with  the  memoirs  from  the  communications  of  various  intelligent  and 
scientific  friends.  It  must  be  remarked,  that  many  of  the  persons  recorded 
in  these  pages  have  been  so  immediately  connected  with  this  city,  that  their 
actions  form  a  part  of  its  annals  ;  and  on  that  account  the  chronological  order 
has  been  observed  in  the  ensuing  arrangement ;  except  in  regard  to  those  indi- 
viduals of  rank  or  family,  who  have  also  been  interred  here,  but  of  whom  no 
other  essential  particulars  have  been  collected  than  what  is  inscribed  upon 
their  monuments ;  and  whose  names,  for  more  convenient  reference,  are  ar- 
ranged alphabetically.  In  the  instances  of  Governor  Pownall,  and  Mr.  Chris- 
topher Anstey,  a  deviation  from  the  original  intention  of  noticing  those  only 


BIOGRAPHICAL  ANECDOTES.  85 

who  were  buried  in  the  Church  has  taken  place ;  but  as  both  the  above  gentle- 
men are  intimately  associated  with  the  history  of  Bath,  and  as  both  have 
inscribed  tablets  to  their  memories  in  the  Church,  it  is  hoped  that  the  in- 
troduction of  their  brief  memoirs  will  not  be  deemed  irrelevant. 


JAMES   MONTAGUE,   S.T.P. 

Bishop  of  Winchester.    Ob.  1618. 

Some  particulars  of  this  learned  prelate  have  been  given  in  Chapter  III. ; 
but  his  talents  and  munificence  entitle  him  to  a  still  more  extended  notice. 
He  was  born  in  the  year  1568,  at  Boughton,  in  Northamptonshire,  the  seat  of 
Sir  Edward  Montague,  Knt.,  his  father,  who  was  lineally  descended  from  the 
Montacutes,  Earls  of  Salisbury.  He  received  his  education  at  Christ's  College, 
Cambridge;  and  in  1598  was  appointed  the  first  Master  of  Sidney  Sussex 
College,  in  that  University,  by  the  executors  of  Lady  Anne  Sidney,  the 
foundress*.  Of  that  College,  to  use  the  quaint  phraseology  of  Fuller,  he  be- 
came the  "  Nursing-father ;  for  he  found  it  in  bonds  to  pay  twenty  marks  per 
annum  to  Trinity  College,  for  the  ground  whereon  it  is  built,  and  left  it  fixe, 
assigning  it  a  rent  for  the  discharge  thereof  |."  He  also  took  great  pains  to 
overlook  the  buildings  of  his  College;  and  bestowed  100/.  in  improving  the 
ancient  King's  Ditch,  which  intersected  the  grounds  there,  into  a  regular 
water-course.  His  abilities  were  considerable,  and  led  to  various  promotions. 
In  December  1604,  he  was  made  Dean  of  Worcester  by  King  James,  "  who 
did  ken  a  man  of  merrit  as  well  as  any  Prince  in  Christendome  \ ;"  and  with 
whom  he  long  continued  in  great  favour.  In  March  1608,  he  was  advanced 
to  the  See  of  Bath  and  Wells;  and  was  consecrated  on  the  17th  of  April  fol- 
lowing.    His  generous  reparations  have  already  been  detailed  ;  and  in  addi- 

*  Lady  Sidney  was  buried  in  Westminster  Abbey,  where  a  costly  monument  erected  to  her 
memory  still  remains ;  and  has  been  particularly  described  in  Brayley's  elaborate  History  of  that 
buildino-.  One  of  Lady  Sidney's  executors  was  Sir  John  Harington,  the  worthy  knight  who  so 
much  interested  himself  in  the  restoration  of  Bath  Abbey  Church ;  and  it  is  not  improbable  but 
that  his  influence  with  Bishop  Montague  arose  from  the  original  appointment  of  the  latter  to  the 
Mastership  of  Sidney  College,  which  had  been  partly  effected  by  Sir  John's  patronage,  who  was 
Lady  Sidney's  nephew. 

f  "  Worthies  of  England,"  vol.  ii.  p.  164  :  edit.  1811.  t  Ibid. 


86  BATH  ABBEY  CHURCH. 

tion  to  his  works  at  Bath  Abbey  Church,  it  may  be  mentioned,  from  Bishop 
Godwin,  that  "  he  built  a  fair  pulpit  of  freestone  in  the  same*;"  although 
not  any  thing  of  the  kind  now  remains,  nor  does  the  least  notice  of  it  appear 
to  have  been  taken  by  any  other  author.  He  was  translated  to  Winchester 
on  the  4th  of  October,  1616 ;  and  dying  in  that  city,  in  July  1618,  was  in- 
terred at  Bath,  agreeably  to  his  own  desire.  On  his  monument,  which  was 
erected  at  the  expense  of  his  four  brothers,  are  the  following  inscriptions  :  — 

"  Memoriae  sacrum,  pietate,  virtute,  &  doctrina  insignis  Jacobus  Montacutus,  Edvardi  Mon- 
tacuti  de  Boughton,  in  comitatu  Northamptoniae,  equitis  aurati,  a  Saris.  Comitibus  deducta  pro- 
pagine,  Alius  quintogenitus,  a  sapientissimo  Jacobo  Rege  Sacello  Regio  Decanus  praepositus,  ad 
Episcopatum  Bathoniensem  promotus,  et  deinde  ad  Wintoniensem,  ob  spectatam  in  maximis 
negotiis  fidem,  dexteritatem  et  pru  'entiam,  in  sanctius  concilium  adscitus,  Regique  (cui  cha- 
rissimus  erat,)  in  aula  assiduus,  in  medio  actuosae  vitae  cursu,  quam  Deo,  ecclesiae  et  patriae  de- 
voverat,  ad  aeternam  vitam  evocatus  2°  Julii,  Anno  Domini  1618  ;  aetatis  50." 

"  Reverendissimus  hie  Episcopus  in  hoc  Templo  antiquissimo,  quod,  inter  alia  multa  egregia 
pietatis  monumenta,  maximis  impensis  instauravit,  corpus  deponi  jussit,  donee  Christo  Re- 
demptori  videbatur,  eum  cum  justis  ad  interminatam  vitam,  quam  in  terris  semper  anhelavit, 
excitare.  Edvardus  Montacutus  de  Boughton  ;  Henricus  Montacutus,  Capitalis  in  Banco  Regio 
Justitiarius ;  Carolus  Montacutus,-  testamenti  Curator ;  et  Sidneius  Montacutus,  a  supplicum 
libellis,  equites  aurati,  fratri  optime  merito,  cum  lachrymis  posuerunt." 


Edward  Jorden,  M.D.  Ob.  1632. — Bath,  from  being  the  crowded  resort 
of  the  sick  and  superannuated,  as  well  as  of  the  healthy  and  richer  classes, 
has  necessarily  had  among  its  resident  inhabitants  a  large  proportion  of 
medical  men  ;  many  of  whom  lie  buried  in  the  Abbey  Church.  Among  them 
was  Dr.  Jorden,  who  appears  to  have  been  eminent  in  his  profession  at  Bath 
in  the  early  part  of  the  seventeenth  century.  Dr.  Guidott  says,  that  Jorden 
"  was  a  gentleman  of  a  good  family  of  Kent,  who  being  a  younger  brother, 
adopted  Physick  as  a  profession,  for  which,  when  he  had  accomplished  him- 
self by  a  convenient  course  of  studies  in  his  own  country,  he  travelled  abroad 
to  see  the  manners  and  customs  of  the  Universities  beyond  seaf."  At  Padua, 
he  took  the  degree  of  Doctor  in  Physic,  and  returning  home,  he  practised 
at  London,  and  "  became  an  eminently  solid  and  rational  Philosopher  and 
Physician,  and  one  of  that  famous  and  learned  Society,  The  King's  College  of 

*  "  Catalogue  of  the  Bishops  of  England,"  p.  386. 

t  Dr.  Guidott's  "  Lives  and  Characters  of  the  Physicians  of  Bath,"  from  1598  to  1676,  in  the 
"  Collection"  of  his  Treatises,  8vo.  1725:  p.  184. 


BIOGRAPHICAL  ANECDOTES.  87 

Physicians."  He  eventually  settled  at  Bath,  where  he  continued  till  his  death, 
in  1632,  at  the  age  of  63,  and  was  buried  in  the  south  aile  of  the  Abbey 
Church,  but  has  neither  monument  nor  inscription. 

Dr.  Jorden  is  said  to  have  been  the  first  resident  physician  who  wrote 
on  the  Mineral  Waters  at  Bath.  He  was  also  the  author  of  some  treatises 
on  Chemistry,  and  engaged  in  a  losing  speculation  relative  to  the  manufacture 
of  Alum,  as  we  learn  from  a  passage  in  his  treatise  on  Natural  Baths  and 
Mineral  Waters.  "  Now  I  come  to  Alom,  (indignum  vox  ipsa  jubet  renovare 
dolorem  !)  the  greatest  Debtor  I  have,  and  I  the  greatest  Benefactor  to  it,  as 
shall  appear  when  I  think  fit  to  publish  the  artifice  thereof."  It  seems  that 
the  monopoly  of  the  alum  works,  which  James  the  First  granted  to  Sir  Arthur 
Ingram,  had  been  expected  by  Dr.  Jorden. 


Tobias  Venner,  M.D.  Ob.  1660. — 'Among  the  earlier  Bath  physicians, 
Dr.  Venner  was  one  of  the  most  distinguished.  He  was  a  native  of  North 
Petherton,  in  Somersetshire,  and  took  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Physic  at 
Alban  Hall,  Oxford.  Commencing  practice  in  this  city,  he  continued  to  reside 
here  during  almost  half  a  century.  Dr.  Guidott  says,  "  He  had  the  cha- 
racter of  a  plain  charitable  physician,  but  no  ready  man  at  stating  a  case. 
However,  he  found  the  right  way  to  write  a  book,  called  '  Via  Recta  ad  Vitam 
longam,'  wherein  is  this  memorable  observation,  '  That  a  Gammon  of  Bacon 
is  of  the  same  nature  with  the  rest  of  the  Hog*.'  "  This  remark  may  be  con- 
sidered as  mere  hypercriticism ;  the  passage  to  which  it  refers  implying  only, 
that  Gammon  of  Bacon  is  of  the  same  nature  with  other  parts  of  the  Hog,  but 
not  so  good,  it  being  harder  of  digestion.  Dr.  Venner's  Treatise,  which  con- 
tains a  copious  collection  of  rules  and  maxims  relating  to  diet  and  regimen, 
was  probably  superior  to  any  thing  of  the  kind  that  had  been  previously 
published ;  and  although  it  has  been  long  since  superseded  by  the  productions 
of  later  writers,  it  contains  various  passages  that  may  still  be  read  with  interest. 
Dr.  Venner  died  at  Bath,  March  the  27th,  1660,  aged  85 ;  and  was  buried  in 
the  Abbey  Church,  where  a  heavy  monument  of  marble  and  freestone  was 
erected  to  his  memory,  having  a  long  Latin  inscription  under  his  Bust.  The 
following  strange  verse,  or  epitaph,  on  him,  is  given  by  Dr.  Guidott,  who 

*  "  Lives  of  the  Physicians  of  Bath,"  p.  187.    The  "  Via  Recta,"  &c.  was  first  published  in 
-1620,  4to  ;  and  has  since  been  twice  reprinted. 


88  BATH  ABBEY  CHURCH. 

calls  it  a  riddle ;  but  leaves  the  meaning  to  be  conjectured.     It  seems  to  be 
a  coarse  satire  on  the  personal  appearance  of  Dr.  Venner  : 

The  Ashes  of  this  Grave, 

No  Phoenix  but  Chimera  gave  ; 

The  Head,  the  Feet,  about  the  Thigh, 

A  Duck,  a  Mouse,  a  Butterfly. 


Samuel  Bave,  M.D.,  ob.  1668,  was  a  native  of  Cologne,  in  Germany, 
and  came  to  England  as  tutor  to  the  son  of  Sir  Thomas  Edmonds,  ambassador 
from  King  James  the  First  to  France.  At  Oxford  he  took  the  degree  of  M.D. 
in  1628.  About  the  year  1640  he  removed  from  Gloucester  to  Bath,  where 
(Guidott  says)  he  practised  with  "  admirable  success"  for  nearly  thirty  years. 
Dr.  Bave  died  in  1668,  at  the  age  of  80 ;  and  being  interred  in  the  Abbey 
Church,  a  monument  was  there  erected  for  him,  with  a  Latin  epitaph  by 
Dr.  Guidott,  who  speaks  highly  of  his  medical  skill,  and  says  that  he  was 
acquainted  with  several  languages.  His  memory,  according  to  Guidott,  was 
so  good,  and  his  mind  so  active,  that  he  could  both  write  himself,  and  dictate 
at  the  same  time  to  two  Amanuenses,  in  different  languages. 


John  Maplet,  M.D.,  ob.  1670,  was  born  in  London,  and  educated  at 
Westminster,  and  afterwards  at  Christ  Church,  Oxford.  He  was  subsequently 
a  Proctor  of  that  University,  and  Principal  of  Gloucester  Hall.  About  the 
middle  of  the  seventeenth  century  he  visited  France  and  Flanders,  as  tutor 
to  Lucius  and  Henry,  who  were  successively  Viscounts  Falkland.  On  his 
return  to  England,  Dr.  Maplet  married  a  lady  of  Bristol,  and  divided  his  pro- 
fessional time  between  that  city  and  Bath.  Some  of  his  letters,  on  medical 
subjects,  were  published  by  Dr.  Guidott ;  and  also  a  few  short  Latin  poems. 
He  died  at  Bath  in  1670 ;  and  was  buried  in  the  north  aile  of  the  Abbey 
Church,  where  a  monument,  with  a  Latin  inscription  by  Dr.  Guidott,  was 
erected  to  his  memory. 


Thomas  Guidott,  M.B.  Ob.  1705.  — From  the  various  writings  of 
Guidott,  and  his  inquiries  into  the  nature  and  properties  of  the  Bath  waters, 
his  name  has  become  particularly  associated  with  this  city,  in  which  he  prac- 


BIOGRAPHICAL  ANECDOTES.  89 

tised  as  a  physician,  either  wholly  or  partially,  for  nearly  forty  years.  Born 
at  Lymington,  in  Hampshire,  in  1638,  he  was  the  fourth  in  descent  from 
Signor  Antonio  Guidotti,  a  native  of  Florence,  who  came  into  England  in 
the  early  part  of  the  reign  of  Edward  the  Sixth,  from  whom  he  received  the 
honour  of  knighthood.  He  acquired  his  early  education  at  the  Grammar 
School  in  Dorchester,  and  afterwards,  in  October  1656,  became  a  commoner 
of  Wadham  College,  Oxford,  where  he  studied  anatomy  and  medicine,  and 
first  entered  into  practice.  On  July  the  14th,  1666,  he  was  admitted  Bachelor 
of  Physic ;  and  in  the  following  year  he  settled  at  Bath,  and  became  a  suc- 
cessful practitioner  under  the  encouraging  friendship  of  Dr.  John  Maplet. 
Whilst  in  that  city  he  made  numerous  experiments  on  the  Bath  waters ;  and 
although  these  were  not  conducted  with  the  precision  that  distinguishes  the 
present  age  of  systematic  chemistry,  his  remarks  display  considerable  judgment 
and  professional  acumen.  In  the  course  of  his  inquiries,  he  endeavoured  to 
obtain  the  opinions  of  the  most  eminent  physicians  of  his  time,  with  several 
of  whom  he  maintained  a  correspondence ;  but  at  Bath  he  experienced  con- 
siderable opposition,  probably  as  much  from  the  want  of  a  conciliatory  temper, 
as  from  the  qualities  to  which  he  himself  ascribed  it ;  namely,  "  envy,  pride, 
beggary,  and  revenge." 

It  appears  from  his  writings,  that  Dr.  Guidott  had  a  most  thorough  con- 
tempt for  Quackery ;  and  the  unguarded  and  unqualified  expression  of  this 
feeling  seems  to  have  involved  him  in  frequent  disputes  with  his  fellow  practi- 
tioners, and  to  have  engendered  much  calumny*.  To  these  causes,  perhaps, 
the  decay  of  his  practice  at  Bath  may  be  more  correctly  attributed,  than 
to  "  his  impudence,  lampooning,  and  libelling,"  as  stated  by  the  crabbed 
author  of  the  "  Athenae  Oxonienses."  Guidott's  language  at  times  possesses 
certainly  a  coarseness,  which  but  ill  accords  with  the  decorum  of  modern 

*  In  his  preface  to  Dr.  Jorden's  "  Discourse  of  Natural  Bathes,"  &c,  which  Guidott  republished 
in  1669,  with  an  "  Appendix  concerning  Bathe,"  of  his  own,  is  the  following  strong  passage;  and 
many  others  of  similar  import,  but  applied  immediately  to  the  faculty  at  Bath,  are  scattered  through 
his  tracts  :  —  "  Empiricks  and  juggling  Medicasters  do  so  much  abound,  that  'tis  almost  as  hard  a 
matter  to  meet  with  a  regular  and  well-accomplished  Physitian  now,  as  it  was  in  former  times 
for  Diogenes  to  find  an  honest  man."  After  stating  his  ideas  of  the  proper  attainments  of  a  phy- 
sician, as  contradistinguished  from  "  Aqytta  and  Quack-salvers,"  he  whimsically  compares  "  a  Com- 
pleat  Physitian  to  the  draught  of  a  Man,  standing  on  the  two  legs  of  Anatomy  and  Herbary, 
operating  (if  need  be)  with  the  hands  of  Chirurgery  and  Pharmacy,  having  a  Chemical  head ;  and 
the  bulk  of  his  body  made  up  of  the  Nature,  Kind,  and  Cures  of  Diseases,  which  we  may  not 
improperly  term  a  Body  of  Physic,"    Ibid. 

N 


90  BATH  ABBEY  CHURCH. 

literature ;  yet  of  the  provocations  he  received  we  know  very  little ;  and  what 
may  now  seem  splenetic  and  unbecoming,  might  be  nothing  more  than  the 
deserved  retort  on  abuse,  falsehood,  and  misrepresentation.  That  he  exerted 
himself  greatly  to  advance  the  celebrity  of  the  Bath  waters,  there  can  be  no 
doubt ;  for  he  was  fully  convinced  of  their  paramount  efficacy,  and  strenuously 
laboured  to  extend  the  knowledge  of  their  healthful  qualities. 

"  In  1671,"  says  Wood,  "  he  performed  his  exercise  at  Oxon  for  the 
degree  of  doctor  of  his  faculty,  but  has  not  as  yet  taken  that  degree  *  :"  nor 
does  it  appear  that  he  ever  took  it.  Eloy  agrees  in  stating,  that  he  went 
to  Oxford,  in  1671,  to  take  a  "  Doctor's  bonnet;"  but  that  he  returned  to 
Bath  without  fulfilling  his  intentionf.  In  1671  he  removed  to  London,  though 
he  still  continued  to  practise  at  Bath  during  the  summer  months.  From  that 
period  almost  all  that  is  recorded  of  him  is,  that  he  was  offered  the  choice  of 
a  professor's  chair,  both  at  Venice  and  at  Leyden,  but  declined  both.  Wood 
characterises  him  as  "  a  person  of  good  parts,  well  versed  in  Greek  and 
Latin  learning,  and  intelligent  in  his  profession ;  but  so  much  overwhelm'd 
with  self-conceit  and  pride,  that  he  is  in  a  manner  sometimes  crazed,  especially 
when  his  blood  is  heated  with  too  much  bibbing."  In  this  language  there  is 
probably  an  undeserved  severity ;  for  whoever  examines  his  writings  will 
find  that  the  strength  of  the  argument  lay  generally  with  himself;  however 
it  may  be  enveloped  in  a  rambling  phraseology,  or  mingled  with  sarcastic 
remarks  on  the  conduct  of  his  adversaries.  That  he  keenly  felt  the  wrongs 
of  which  he  complains,  is  evident  from  many  passages  in  his  works, — one  of 
which  (not  the  most  severe)  is  here  given  :  it  occurs  in  the  Postscript  to  his 
"  Apology  for  the  Bath,"  8vo.,  which  was  first  published  in  the  year  1705. 
Whether  the  Collections  for  the  work  he  alludes  to  have  been  preserved  or 
not,  is  unknown :  if  yet  extant  they  would,  doubtless,  be  curious  to  examine, 
as  he  was  so  many  years  connected  with  this  city. — "  I  have  written  this,"  he 
says,  "  as  my  last  kindness  to  the  Bath,  to  which  in  some  measure  I  may 
apply  the  words  of  the  unfortunate  learned  Dr.  Jorden  concerning  allom — 
'  The  greatest  Debtor  I  have,  and  I  the  greatest  benefactor  to  it.' — What  spare 
hours  I  may  have  for  the  future,  I  shall  employ  to  prepare  for  the  Publick 
a  more  bulky  work  in  Latin,  being  the  Annals  of  this  City,  and  the  History 
of  Wells,  with  the  Succession  of  the  Bishops  and  Deans  of  that  Church,  from 

*  Athens  Oxonienses,"  vol.  iv.  p.  734.     Bliss's  edit. 

t  "  Dictionnaire  Historique  de  la  Medecine,"  torn.  i.  p.  400, 


BIOGRAPHICAL  ANECDOTES.  91 

the  first  foundation  to  the  present  time ;  which  may  prove  of  greater  advantage 
to  the  world  than  to  waste  precious  minutes  about  other  things  of  a  meaner 
concern." 

The  following  inscription,  now  partly  defaced,  occupies  a  tablet  in  the 
wall  at  the  east  end  of  the  Abbey  Church,  on  the  outside  : — 

"  IN  MEMORY  OF  THOMAS  GUIDOTT,  M.B.,  BY  WHOSE  AUTHORITY  DRINKING  THE  BATH 
WATERS  WAS  REVIVED,  MDCLXXIII.,  AND  WHO  DIED  MDCCV.  THIS  INSCRIPTION  WAS  HERE 
PLACED  MDCCXXVII.,  BY  JOHN  WYNTER,  M.B." 


William  Oliver,  M.D.,  F.R.S.  Ob.  1716.— There  have  been  two 
eminent  physicians  of  this  name,  both  of  whom  were  resident  at  Bath,  and 
both  Fellows  of  the  Royal  Society ;  in  consequence  of  which  their  writings 
have  been  confounded  by  Dr.  Watt,  in  his  "  Bibliotheca  Britannica,"  and  by 
other  writers.  The  subject  of  the  present  article  was  descended  from  the 
ancient  family  of  Trevarnoe,  in  Cornwall.  He  was  very  early  attached  to 
physical  inquiries ;  but  whilst  pursuing  his  studies  in  foreign  Universities, 
was  induced,  in  1688,  to  join  the  expedition  under  the  Prince  of  Orange,  for 
the  liberation  of  England  from  the  murderous  tyranny  of  the  infatuated  race 
of  the  Stuarts.  In  1693,  his  services  were  rewarded  by  the  office  of  Phy- 
sician to  the  Fleet;  in  which  station  he  continued  till  1702.  He  was  after- 
wards Physician  to  the  Hospitals,  both  of  Chatham  and  Greenwich ;  the 
latter  of  which  he  held  till  his  decease,  (unmarried,)  on  the  4th  of  April,  1716  : 
he  was  buried  in  the  nave  of  the  Abbey  Church.  Several  of  his  communica- 
tions to  the  Royal  Society  may  be  found  in  the  "  Philosophical  Transactions" 
for  the  years  1693,  1703,  1704,  and  1705.  They  relate  to  the  pressure  of 
water  at  various  depths  ;  an  ebbing  and  flowing  well ;  some  remarkable  Curio- 
sities in  Denmark  and  Holland ;  a  case  of  phrenitis  cured  by  copious  bleed- 
ing ;  Jesuits'  bark ;  and  an  instance  of  extraordinary  sleepiness  in  a  husband- 
man, at  Tinsbury,  near  Bath.  In  1704  he  published,  in  12mo,  a  "  Treatise 
on  Fevers,  and  the  Bath  Waters ;"  and  in  1707,  a  "  Practical  Dissertation 
on  Bath  Waters,"  conjoined  to  the  cause  of  their  heat  and  ingredients,  the 
original  of  springs,  antiquity  of  Bathing,  &c.  The  latter  work  was  repub- 
lished in  1718. 


William  Baker,  S.T.P.    Ob.  1732.— This  prelate  was  a  native  of  Ilton, 
in  Somersetshire,  and  of  the  same  family  as  the  famous  mathematician,  Thomas 


92  BATH  ABBEY  CHURCH. 

Baker,  author  of  "  The  Geometrical  Key,  or  the  Gate  of  Equations  Un- 
locked," &c. — who  was  probably  his  uncle.  He  was  educated  at  Wadham 
College,  Oxford,  of  which,  in  1719,  he  was  elected  Warden ;  but  about  four 
years  previously  he  had  been  appointed  Rector  of  St.  Giles's  in  the  Fields, 
London.  That  living  he  held  till  his  decease,  notwithstanding  his  promotion 
to  the  see  of  Bangor  in  1723,  and  his  subsequent  translation  to  Norwich  in 
1727.  His  publications  were  only  four  "  Sermons."  He  died  at  Bath  on 
the  4th  of  December,  1732,  aged  65  years ;  and  was  buried  in  the  nave  of 
the  Abbey  Church. 

Ralph  Thicknesse,  M.A.  Ob.  1742. — He  was  the  brother  of  Philip 
Thicknesse,  at  one  time  Lieutenant-Governor  of  Landguard  Fort,  and  well 
known  for  his  talents,  personal  adventures,  and  eccentricities.  Ralph  Thick- 
nesse was  an  assistant-master  at  Eton  College  ;  from  which,  when  a  scholar, 
he  had  been  elected  to  King's  College,  at  Cambridge,  in  1727.  He  pub- 
lished, in  1741,  an  edition  of  "  Phaedrus,  with  English  Notes,"  and  "  Examples, 
rendered  into  proper  Latin."  In  1742  he  made  application  for  a  Doctor's 
degree,  the  Fellows  of  King's  College  having  promised  that  they  would  make 
him  their  Provost  after  the  decease  of  Dr.  Snape,  whose  dissolution  was  ex- 
pected; but  he  himself  died  on  the  11th  of  October,  in  the  same  year,  even 
before  the  person  whom  he  had  been  invited  to  succeed.  He  had  considerable 
skill  in  music  ;  and  his  death  occurred,  suddenly,  whilst  assisting  at  a  concert 
at  Bath,  in  the  performance  of  a  piece  of  his  own  composition.  Dr.  Oliver, 
the  second  of  that  name,  who  was  standing  near  his  elbow  when  he  fell,  con- 
ceived that  his  decease  was  occasioned  by  mental  anxiety  respecting  the 
execution  of  his  own  music.  The  same  gentleman  wrote  the  following  elegiac 
lines  to  his  memory  :  — 

Weep,  oh !  ye  Wits,  who  ever  laugh'd  before, — 

Thicknesse,  your  favourite  Thicknesse,  jokes  no  more. 

No  more  his  Attic  salt,  his  Roman  fire, 

The  social  band,  delighted,  shall  admire. 

Hush'd  be  all  Harmony,  except  the  strain 

That 's  taught  in  mournful  numbers  to  complain, 

How  He,  who  sounds  celestial  could  combine, 

Was  snatched  from  Earth,  in  Heavenly  choir  to  shine. 

Ye  Poets, — sweet  companions  of  his  youth, — 

Quit  all  your  fables  and  adorn  the  truth ; 

In  elegiac  plaints  his  story  tell, 

How  lov'd  he  liv'd !  and  how  lamented,  fell ! 


BIOGRAPHICAL  ANECDOTES.  93 

William  Broome,  LL.D.  Ob.  1745. — This  very  able  assistant  to  Pope 
in  his  translation  of  Homer,  was  of  humble  parentage,  and  born  in  Cheshire. 
He  was  educated  at  Eton,  and  had  the  singular  ill-fortune  to  be  captain  of 
the  School  a  whole  year,  without  any  vacancy  occurring  by  which  he  might 
have  obtained  a  scholarship  at  King's  College.  Being  "  superannuated  " 
through  this  delay,  he  was  enabled  by  some  friendly  contributions  to  pursue 
his  studies  at  St.  John's  College,  where  he  obtained  a  small  exhibition.  When 
George  the  First  visited  Cambridge  in  1728,  Broome  was  honoured  with  the 
title  of  Doctor  of  Laws.  In  his  latter  years  he  held  the  livings  of  Oakley 
Magna,  and  Eye,  in  Suffolk ;  which  were  presented  to  him  by  Charles,  Lord 
Cornwallis,  to  whom  he  was  Chaplain.  He  died  at  Bath,  on  the  16th  of 
November,  1745,  and  was  buried  in  this  Church. 

Broome  was  an  excellent  scholar  and  a  good  poet,  but  he  was  chiefly 
eminent  for  his  translations.  In  the  morning  of  life  he  united  with  Ozell  and 
Oldisworth  in  translating  the  "Iliads"  into  prose;  a  performance  which,  in 
point  of  fidelity,  has  been  said  to  be  superior  to  that  of  Pope,  but  is  now 
known  only  to  the  curious.  The  success  of  Pope's  version  of  the  Iliad  appears 
to  have  induced  Broome  and  his  much  esteemed  friend,  Fenton,  to  undertake 
a  translation  of  the  Odyssey ;  but  Pope  becoming  acquainted  with  their  inten- 
tion, as  RufFhead  relates,  and  being  more  willing  to  have  them  for  confe- 
derates than  rivals,  engaged  their  assistance ;  and  of  that  edition  which  bears 
Pope's  name,  eight  books,  viz.  the  2d,  6th,  8th,  11th  12th,  16th,  18th,  and 
23d,  were  translated  by  Broome,  and  four  others  by  Fenton.  The  whole  of 
the  notes,  also,  were  written  by  Broome,  whose  general  learning  and  strong 
critical  acumen  they  strikingly  exemplify.  His  share  of  the  poem  is  equal 
in  every  respect  to  that  of  either  of  his  coadjutors ;  yet  Pope,  with  whom 
he  appears  to  have  quarrelled  in  regard  to  pecuniary  remuneration,  had  the 
baseness  to  speak  of  him  in  the  "  Bathos"  as  a  proficient  in  the  "  art  of 
sinking."  —  Pope's  adversaries,  however,  were  of  a  different  opinion;  and 
Henley  adverts  to  their  respective  merits  in  this  "  ludicrous  distich  :"— 

Pope  came  off  clean  with  Homer ;  but  they  say 
Broome  went  before,  and  kindly  swept  the  way. 


Sir  John  Shadwell,  Knt.,  M.D.,  &c.  Ob.  1747. — He  was  born  at 
London  in  1670,  being  the  son  of  Thomas  Shadwell,  the  dramatist;  a 
descendant  of  a  respectable  family  in  Staffordshire.     He  was  educated  at 


94  BATH  ABBEY  CHURCH. 

All  Souls'  College,  Oxford :  and  proceeded  M.A.  in  1692;  M.B.  in  1697; 
and  M.D.  in  1701.  In  August  1699,  he  attended  the  Earl  of  Manchester  on 
his  embassy  extraordinary  to  Louis  XIV.,  and  continued  with  that  nobleman 
at  Paris  till  1701.  He  afterwards  became  Physician  to  Queen  Anne;  to 
George  I.,  who  conferred  on  him  the  honour  of  knighthood ;  and  to 
George  II.  He  died  at  Bath  on  the  4th  of  December,  1747,  and  was  in* 
terred  in  the  nave  of  this  Church. 


Richard  Nash,  Esq.  Ob.  1761. — Few  men  have  acquired  more  cele- 
brity while  alive,  or  will  be  longer  remembered  in  their  place  of  residence 
after  death,  than  the  once  noted  "  Beau  Nash."  Though  possessed  neither 
of  rank,  fortune,  nor  learning,  his  talents  and  address  raised  him  to  a  com- 
manding situation  in  the  world  of  fashion  ;  and  enabled  him  to  exercise  con-> 
siderable  influence  over  the  great,  the  wealthy,  and  even  the  wise  ;  many  of 
whom  treated  him  as  an  equal,  or  submitted  to  him  as  a  dictator.  Over  the 
amusements  of  Bath  he  long  reigned  with  despotic  power  ;  and  he  generally 
exercised  that  power  for  the  benefit,  or,  at  least,  for  the  gratification  of  his 
subjects. 

Nash  was  a  native  of  Swansea  in  Wales,  where  his  father  was  concerned 
in  a  glass  manufactory;  and  where  he  was  born,  on  the  18th  of  October, 
1674.  Young  Nash  was  early  sent  to  Oxford,  whence  he  was  hastily  re- 
moved by  his  friends,  to  prevent  him  from  marrying  an  intriguing  female 
with  whom  he  had  become  connected.  He  was  at  first  destined  for  the 
law,  but  was  soon  introduced  to  the  army ;  the  strict  discipline  of  which  was 
not  compatible  with  his  volatile  and  gay  disposition.  He  therefore  left  it, 
and  took  chambers  in  the  Temple,  and  subsequently  engaged  in  the  gay  and 
dissipated  pursuits  of  the  town. 

At  the  theatres  and  other  public  places  most  of  his  hours  were  passed, 
and  the  gaming-table  was  the  scene  of  his  most  serious  studies.  Occupied 
by  dress,  play,  and  female  society,  Nash  was  distinguished  as  a  Beau,  or 
Dandy,  of  the  seventeenth  century ;  and  the  former  appellation,  which  thus 
early  was  attached  to  his  name,  continued  to  designate  him  through  the  re- 
mainder of  his  life.  On  the  accession  of  "William  of  Orange  to  the  English 
throne,  Nash  became  known  as  a  public  character  from  the  following  cir- 
cumstance :  — It  was  customary  for  the  Societies  of  the  Benchers  and  Stu- 
dents belonging  to  the  Temple,  to  entertain  the  monarch  on  his  succeeding  to 


BIOGRAPHICAL  ANECDOTES.  95 

the  crown,  with  a  feast  and  pageant.  The  reputation  which  Nash  enjoyed 
for  ingenuity  and  wit,  induced  the  Templars  to  consign  to  his  management 
the  direction  of  the  festival.  On  this  occasion  he  obtained  the  approbation 
of  all  parties ;  and  the  King  was  so  pleased,  that  he  offered  to  confer  on 
our  director  of  the  Temple  revels  the  honour  of  knighthood  ;  but  this  empty 
compliment  was  declined. 

In  1704  Nash  visited  Bath,  and  was  introduced  to  Captain  Webster,  at 
that  time  Master  of  the  Ceremonies,  to  whom  he  became  an  assistant ;  and  on 
the  Captain's  death,  shortly  after,  succeeded  him  in  the  sovereign  direction 
of  the  festivities  of  this  city.  Our  hero  was  now  in  his  element :  the  post 
he  held  was  adapted  to  his  talents  and  gratifying  to  his  inclination ;  and  being 
thus  invested  with  authority,  he  exerted  it  to  render  the  amusements  more 
polished,  and  to  promote  the  comfort  and  convenience  of  those  who  frequented 
the  place*. 

Nash  not  only  endeavoured  to  preserve  the  health  of  his  subjects  from 
injury,  but  also  employed  his  authority  to  guard  their  lives  from  danger. 
Swords  were  usually  worn  by  gentlemen,  at  that  period,  as  an  essential  ap- 
pendage to  dress ;  and  at  Bath,  disputes  arising  at  the  gaming-table,  afforded 
frequent  pretexts  for  having  recourse  to  that  weapon.  Nash  prohibited  the 
wearing  of  swords  in  the  public  rooms.  Two  gamblers,  however,  fought  by 
torch-light,  in  the  Grove,  and  one  of  them  was  dangerously  wounded.  That 
circumstance  furnished  our  Master  of  the  Ceremonies  with  a  rational  pretext 
for  establishing  a  positive  law,  that  no  swords  should,  on  any  account,  be  worn 
in  Bath. 

To  support  his  dignity  and  influence,  Nash  adopted  such  external  marks 
of  splendour  as  might  produce  an  imposing  effect  on  the  minds  of  those  by 
whom  he  was  surrounded.  He  wore  the  most  fashionable  clothes,  covered 
with  lace  ;  and  adopted  a  large  white  hat  of  a  peculiar  shape,  cocked,  as  the 
symbol  of  authority.     When  he  travelled,  his  chariot  was  drawn  by  six  horses, 

*  It  has  been  stated  that  no  rank  could  shield  from  animadversion  the  offender  against  the 
laws  which  Nash  had  established ;  nor  would  any  consideration  induce  him  to  allow  of  their  being 
superseded  or  suspended.  When,  at  one  of  the  dress  balls,  the  Duchess  of  Queensbury  made  her 
appearance  in  an  apron  of  point  lace,  worth  five  hundred  guineas,  Nash  desired  her  to  remove 
that  part  of  her  dress,  and  taking  it  from  her,  threw  it  to  the  attendants  who  were  waiting.  On 
another  occasion  the  Princess  Amelia  wished  to  have  one  dance  after  the  appointed  hour  of  con- 
cluding the  ball ;  but  he  told  her  royal  highness,  that  the  laws  of  Bath,  like  those  of  Lycurgus, 
were  unalterable. 


96  BATH  ABBEY  CHURCH. 

and  attended  by  musicians  and  other  persons  both  on  foot  and  on  horseback. 
Nash  was  not  only  treated  with  respect  by  the  beau  monde  in  general,  but  was 
honoured  with  marks  of  esteem  by  Frederick,  Prince  of  Wales,  the  Prince  of 
Orange,  and  by  many  of  the  nobility.  He  was  not  without  friends  among 
literary  men.  Pope  corresponded  with  him ;  and  when  Nash  erected  an 
obelisk  in  Queen  Square,  to  commemorate  the  visit  of  the  Prince  and  Princess 
of  Wales  to  Bath,  in  1738,  that  great  poet  furnished  an  inscription  for  it. 
But  though  Nash  was  on  good  terms  with  many  persons  of  eminence,  his 
situation  necessarily  exposed  him  to  the  censure  of  others.  Among  the  latter 
was  Dr.  Smollett,  who  appears  to  have  entertained  some  spleen  against  him ; 
which,  perhaps,  originated  in  the  opposition  made  by  Nash  to  the  Doctor's 
attempt  to  establish  himself  as  a  physician  in  Bath.  Whatever  may  have 
been  his  motive,  Smollett,  in  Roderick  Random,  relates  a  circumstance  calcu- 
lated to  place  the  Master  of  the  Ceremonies  in  a  ridiculous  point  of  view. 
He  represents  him  as  having  been  guilty  of  a  gratuitous  piece  of  rudeness,  in 
walking  up  to  a  young  lady,  whose  shape  was  somewhat  deformed,  on  her 
appearing  at  the  rooms,  and  asking  her  if  she  could  tell  him  the  name  of 
Tobit's  dog  ?  To  this  she  immediately  replied,  "  His  name  was  Nash,  and 
an  impudent  dog  he  was  *." 

The  character  of  Beau  Nash,  whatever  might  have  been  his  faults,  was 
marked  by  some  redeeming  virtues.  As  he  acquired  money  easily,  so  he 
readily  bestowed  it  on  those  who  were  in  distress.  Many  instances  of  his 
benevolence  are  recorded ;  and  it  is  said  that  when  circumstances  left  him 
without  the  means  of  relieving  those  whom  he  found  in  want,  he  has  been 

*  A  satirical  Epigram  from  the  pen  of  Lord  Chesterfield,  and  which  appears  to  have  been  written 
about  the  year  1741,  has  frequently  been  quoted,  and  applied  to  the  circumstance  of  the  Cor- 
poration of  Bath  having  caused  a  marble  statue  of  the  "  King  of  Bath,"  to  be  placed  in  the  pump- 
room,  between  the  busts  of  Newton  and  Pope.  It  seems,  however,  from  a  copy  of  the  entire 
epigram,  that  it  was  a  portrait  of  Nash,  so  placed,  that  occasioned  the  satire, — the  wit  and  keen- 
ness of  which  are  remarkable.     The  two  concluding  verses  are  as  follow : — 

"  Nash  represents  Man  in  the  mass 

Made  up  of  wrong  and  right ; 
Sometimes  a  knave,  sometimes  an  ass, 

Now  blunt,  and  now  polite. — 
The  Picture  placed  the  Busts  between 

Adds  to  the  thought  much  strength ; 
Wisdom  and  Wit  are  little  seen, 

But  Folly's  at  full  length." 


BIOGRAPHICAL  ANECDOTES.  97 

known  to  shed  tears.  In  the  hard  winter  of  1739,  his  active  charity  was 
the  means  of  alleviating  the  misery  of  many.  He  went  to  the  habitations 
of  those  indigent  persons  whose  modest  pride  prevented  them  from  making 
known  their  necessities,  and  administered  assistance  to  them  unsolicited. 
The  weavers  and  the  colliers  of  the  neighbourhood  of  Bath  being  out  of  employ- 
ment, entered  the  city  in  a  body,  in  a  state  of  the  utmost  distress.  Nash 
promptly  undertook  to  raise  a  subscription  for  them,  and  contributing  ten 
guineas,  was  so  successful  that  he  sent  the  half-starved  labourers  home  to 
their  families  with  the  means  of  preserving  them  from  the  impending  horrors 
of  want*. 

A  singular  anecdote  is  told  by  Sir  Richard  Steele,  in  the  Tatler,  of  which 
Nash  is  the  hero,  although  his  name  is  not  mentioned.  In  the  early  part  of 
his  life,  when  he  was  Treasurer  to  the  Society  of  the  Middle  Temple,  on  his 
delivering  in  his  annual  account,  there  appeared  among  the  disbursements, 
"  Ten  Pounds  for  making  a  man  happy."  An  explanation  of  this  item  being 
required  from  the  Treasurer,  he  said  that  one  day  he  overheard  a  person  say, 
"  If  I  had  ten  pounds  I  should  be  happy ;"  and  thinking  that  such  a  sum 
would  be  well  laid  out  in  communicating  happiness  to  a  fellow-creature,  he 
had  made  the  man  a  present  of  the  money  out  of  the  funds  of  the  Society. 
Nash  added,  that  if  his  conduct  should  be  thought  objectionable,  he  would 
pay  the  money  out  of  his  own  pocket.  The  Templars  unanimously  approved 
of  the  donation. 

The  latter  part  of  Nash's  existence  may  be  termed  unfortunate.  His  great 
age  was  attended  with  the  usual  train  of  infirmities.     He  was  disabled  from 

*  The  following  advertisement,  originally  published  in  the  "  Bath  Journal,"  serves  to  illustrate 
the  character  of  Nash,  and  shew  the  nature  of  some  of  the  charges  which  he  sustained  in  the 
course  of  his  official  career : — 

"  Bath,  April  25,  [1748.] 

"  I  think  it  hard,  after  above  forty  years  being  a  fool  and  slave  to  the  Publick,  I  should  be 
accused  of  getting  Money  by  the  Publick  Subscriptions.  I  now  appeal  to  the  Publick-rooms  who 
receive  the  money ;  to  the  Musick  who  are  constantly  paid  by  the  receivers,  if  ever  they  were 
defrauded  of  a  shilling ;  or  that  I  ever  touched  a  sixpenny  piece  of  it.  Indeed  where  there  was 
any  small  surplus  left,  those  that  think  I  got  any  of  it,  may  find  it  in  the  Hospital  Charity  Book. 
To  this  I  call  God  and  Man  to  witness. 

"  Richard  Nash." 

"  N.B.  It  has  cost  me  more  money  annually,  on  the  publick  account,  than  any  ten  that  ever 
came  to  Bath ;  and  if  it  was  not  for  the  sake  of  the  Bath  and  Company,  I  would  leave  'em  to  the 
confusion  I  found  'em  in." 

O 


98  BATH  ABBEY  CHURCH. 

enjoying  the  festive  amusements  over  which  he  had  so  long  presided,  and 
which  had  formed  the  chief  employment  of  his  life ;  and  his  passage  to  the 
grave  was  embittered  by  the  neglect  of  those  to  whom  he  had  so  long  been 
the  minister  of  pleasure.  His  admirable  skill  in  play  is  said  to  have  been 
the  means  by  which  he  defrayed  his  vast  expenses,  but  this  resource  failed 
him  as  he  advanced  in  years.  Sickness  and  poverty  embittered  the  "  closing 
evening  of  his  days,"  and  "  sorrow  and  distress,"  evils  against  which  he  had 
provided  no  defence,  fell  on  him  with  a  "  double  weight,"  inasmuch  as  he  had 
never  contemplated  their  approach. 

He  died  at  his  house  in  St.  John's  Court,  Bath,  on  the  3d  of  February, 
1761,  at  the  age  of  87,  and  was  honoured  with  a  splendid  funeral  by  the 
Corporation.  His  memory  was  celebrated  by  two  literary  tributes  of  respect; 
the  one  in  English,  by  Dr.  Oliver,  the  other  in  Latin,  by  the  witty  and  erudite 
Dr.  King.  The  epitaph  inscribed  upon  his  monument,  which  was  erected 
by  subscription  in  1790,  at  the  instigation,  and  chiefly  at  the  expense  of  the 
late  Dr.  Harington,  has  been  already  given.  A  memoir  of  him  was  written 
by  the  amiable  and  fascinating  Goldsmith. 


William  Oliver,  M.D.,  F.R.S.  Ob.  1764.  —  Among  the  many  Phy- 
sicians of  Bath  who  have  attained  to  the  first  rank  of  professional  reputation, 
was  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  called  the  famous  Dr.  Oliver,  to  distinguish 
him  from  his  namesake.  He  was  probably  the  son  of  the  Dr.  Oliver  already 
mentioned,  as  we  find  him  practising  at  Bath  as  early  as  1730,  when  he  at- 
tended Mr.  Borlase,  afterwards  the  well-known  Cornish  antiquary*.  His 
practice  was  very  extensive ;  and  his  conversation  and  literary  talents  were 
of  an  elevated  cast.  In  1751,  he  published  a  "  Practical  Essay  on  the  Use 
and  Abuse  of  Warm  Bathing,  in  Gouty  Cases,"  4to.  In  the  "  Philosophical 
Transactions"  for  1723,  is  a  Paper  of  his,  "  Partium  Genitalium  in  Muliere 
Structura  Praeternaturalis;"  and  for  1755,  another  on  "  Some  Cases  of  Dropsy 
cured  by  Sweet  Oil."  He  died  in  1764,  and  was  buried  in  this  Church. 
Charlotte,  his  second  daughter,  became  the  wife  of  the  learned  Sir  John 
Pringle,  M.D.,— and  P.R.S. 

*  Nichols's  "  Literary  Anecdotes,"  vol.  v.  p.  292. 


BIOGRAPHICAL  ANECDOTES.  99 

James  Quin.  Ob.  1766. — Few  individuals  of  the  same  profession  have 
attracted  more  notice  during  their  public  career,  than  Quin ;  and,  among  the 
monuments  in  Bath  Abbey  Church,  that  erected  to  his  memory  is  the  one 
most  likely  to  provoke  a  smile,  an  inquiry,  or  a  jocose  remark  from  the 
spectator.  The  jolly  face  and  bushy  wig  of  the  bust  are  readily  associated 
with  the  traditional  character  of  the  witty  John-Dory-\ov'mg  player. 

Quin,  after  having  been  long  an  ornament  to  the  English  Stage,  was  super- 
seded by  the  superior  histrionic  abilities  of  Garrick  ;  and  he  at  length  retired 
from  the  mimic  scene  to  enjoy,  in  the  society  of  his  friends,  those  festive 
pleasures  of  the  table  to  which  he  was  constitutionally  attached.  Bath  was 
the  place  of  his  retreat,  and  in  this  city  he  made  his  final  "  exit"  in  1766,  at 
the  age  of  73  years.  Among  the  numerous  anecdotes  which  have  been  pub- 
lished relative  to  Quin,  a  few  may  be  selected  as  illustrative  of  his  talents  and 
character. 

The  great  success  of  Garrick  at  his  first  appearance  naturally  excited 
some  jealous  feelings  in  the  breast  of  Quin,  who  considered  him  a  formidable 
rival.  After  he  had  witnessed  the  acting  of  the  new  favourite  in  the  character 
of  Richard  the  Third,  he  authoritatively  declared,  "  That  if  the  young  fellow 
was  right,  he,  and  the  rest  of  the  players,  had  been  all  wrong."  At  another 
time,  being  told  that  the  performance  of  Garrick  drew  immense  crowds  to 
the  theatre  in  Goodman's  Fields  every  night,  he  sarcastically  observed, 
"  That  Garrick  was  the  preacher  of  a  new  religion  ;  like  Whitfield  he  might 
be  followed  for  a  time,  but  the  people  would  all  return  to  the  Church."  This 
remark  being  reported  to  Garrick,  occasioned  him  to  write  the  following 
repartee : — 

"  Pope  Quin,  who  damns  all  Churches  but  his  own, 
Complains  that  Heresy  infects  the  town  ; 
That  Whitfield-Garrick  has  misled  the  age, 
And  taints  the  sound  religion  of  the  Stage  : 
'  Schism  !'  he  cries,  '  has  turn'd  the  nation's  brain  ; 
But  eyes  will  open,  and  to  Church  again !' — 
Thou  great  Infallible,  forbear  to  roar, 
Thy  bulls  and  errors  are  rever'd  no  more; 
When  Doctrines  meet  with  general  approbation, 
It  is  not  Heresy  but  Reformation." 

Quin  and  Garrick  first  made  their  appearance  on  the  stage  together  at  the 
theatre  of  Covent  Garden,  in  1760,  in  the  "  Fair  Penitent,"  (the  former  play- 
ing Horatio,  and  the  latter,  Lothario) ;  and  after  an  arduous  struggle  for 
superiority  in  the  performance  of  their  respective  parts,  the  meed  was  adjudged 


100  BATH  ABBEY  CHURCH. 

to  Garrick  :  as  Quin,  "  by  striving  to  do  too  much,  missed  the  mark  at  which 
he  aimed*." 

Quin's  company  was  sought  upon  many  accounts.  In  providing  excellent 
and  choice  dishes  for  dinner,  and  high-flavoured  wines,  he  was  esteemed  a 
perfect  arbiter  elegantiarum.  The  pleasure  he  took  in  catering,  and  more 
especially  in  talking  over  the  various  excellencies  of  his  provisions,  with  some 
premeditated  conceits,  whimsically  imagined  and  quaintly  expressed,  fixed  on 
him  the  character  of  an  epicure.  The  mere  indulgence  of  his  palate,  it  must 
be  confessed,  he  enjoyed  in  common  with  many  of  his  bottle  companions  ;  if 
it  appeared  more  flagrant  in  him  than  in  others,  it  was  owing  to  his  drawing 
the  notice  of  all  companies  to  it,  by  seizing  every  opportunity  to  introduce  the 
subject.  When  he  saw  a  fishing-rod,  or  heard  any  mention  of  angling,  he 
would  say  it  was  a  barbarous  diversion.  "  Suppose  now  any  being  that  was 
as  much  my  superior  as  I  am  to  the  poor  fish,  were  to  say,  '  This  is  a  fine 
evening;  I'll  go  a  Quinning;  if  he  were  to  bait  with  a  liaunch  of  venison,  I 
should  gorge ;  and  how  should  I  like  to  be  dragged  from  Richmond  to  Kingston, 
floundering  and  flouncing  with  a  hook  in  my  gullet  ?"  To  such  discourse  as 
this,  which  was  very  usual  with  him,  we  owe  the  following  epigram,  published 
about  a  year  before  his  death  : — 

Says  Epicure  Quin,  "  Should  the  devil  in  Hell 

In  fishing  for  men  take  delight, 
And  his  hook  bait  with  ven'son,  I  love  it  so  well, 

That,  by  Jove,  I  am  sure  I  should  bite-j- !" 

*  Davies's  "  Life  of  Garrick,"  vol.  i.  p.  136. 

t  Ibid.  vol.  ii.  p.  114. — Quin's  epicureanism,  if  the  phrase  be  allowable,  has  been  thus  alluded 
to  by  Anstey,  in  his  Epilogue  to  the  "  New  Bath  Guide."  The  poet  feigns  himself  to  be  wan- 
dering on  the  willowy  banks  of  old  Cam — when,  lo !  the  venerable  shade  of  Quin  rises,  and,  con- 
veying the  poet  to  "  the  embowering  grove's  dark  path,"  thus  speaks : — 

"  Forth  from  Elysium's  blest  abodes- 1  come, 
Regions  of  joy,  where  Fate  has  fix'd  my  doom ; 
Look  on  my  face, — I  well  remember  thine, 
Thou  knew'st  me,  too,  when  erst,  in  life's  decline, 
At  Bath  I  dwelt — there  late  repos'd  my  age, 
And  unrepining  left  this  mortal  stage : 
Yet  do  those  scenes,  once  conscious  of  delight, 
Rejoice  my  social  ghost !     There  oft  by  night 

I  hold  my  way ; 

And  from  the  mullet,  and  the  savory  jole, 
Catch  fragrant  fumes,  that  still  regale  my  soul  r" 


BIOGRAPHICAL  ANECDOTES.  101 

Quin  was  by  no  means  deficient  in  liberality,  for  many  shared  his  bounty. 
But  the  delicate  manner  in  which  he  bestowed  it  on  the  poet  Thomson,  does 
much  honour  to  his  character.  Thomson,  before  he  arose  to  fame  and  emi- 
nence, was  embarrassed  in  his  circumstances,  and  arrested  for  debt.  Quin,  to 
whom  he  was  personally  a  stranger,  had  read  his  "  "Winter,"  and  properly 
appreciated  its  merit.  Hearing  of  his  misfortune,  Quin  went  to  the  place 
where  he  was  detained  ;  and  after  introducing  himself  with  an  apology  for 
the  liberty  he  had  taken  in  calling  on  him  without  a  previous  acquaintance, 
said,  "  Mr.  Thomson,  I  owe  you  fifty  pounds,  and  am  come  to  pay  it."  The 
poet  looked  on  this  speech  as  a  coarse  and  insulting  joke ;  and  calmly  ex- 
postulated with  his  visitor  on  the  cruelty  of  his  conduct.  "  No,"  rejoined 
Quin,  "lam  perfectly  serious :  for  the  fact  is,  on  Beading  your  poem  some 
time  since,  I  was  so  pleased  with  it,  that  I  left  you  in  my  Will  the  sum  I 
have  mentioned.  However,  as  you  probably  have  more  occasion  for  the 
money  just  at  present  than  you  will  have  after  my  death,  I  think  I  may  as 
well  save  my  executors  the  trouble  of  paying  it,  by  doing  so  myself;" — and 
immediately  put  into  the  hands  of  the  grateful  and  astonished  captive  poet  a 
Bank-note  for  50/. 

The  face,  figure,  and  personal  character,  of  Quin,  are  exquisitely  per- 
petuated in  a  picture  by  Gainsborough,  now  in  the  possession  of  John  Wilt- 
shire, Esq.,  at  Shockerwick,  near  Bath.  Seldom  have  the  mimic  powers  of 
the  pencil  been  more  skilfully  and  forcibly  exercised  than  on  this  occasion.  It 
is  a  portrait  of  great  merit,  and  in  future  times  will  rank  with  the  works  of 
Rembrandt,  Titian,  and  Reynolds. 


Sarah  Fielding.  Ob.  1768. — This  lady,  sister  to  the  celebrated  author 
of  "  Tom  Jones,"  obtained  considerable  fame  as  the  writer  of  "  The  Adven- 
tures of  David  Simple,  in  search  of  a  Faithful  Friend."  She  published  an  ad- 
ditional volume  in  1752,  which  was  never  popular.  Her  principal  literary 
work  was  "  Xenophon's  Memoirs  of  Socrates,  with  the  Defence  of  Socrates 
before  his  Judges,  translated  from  the  original  Greek."  In  this1  undertaking- 
she  was  assisted  by  Mr.  James  Harris,  of  Salisbury,  to  whom  she  was  in- 
debted for  some  valuable  notes.  Mrs.  Fielding  died  unmarried,  at  Bath,  in 
April  1768. 


J[Q2  BATH  ABBEY  CHURCH. 

Samuel  Derrick.  Ob.  1769. — He  was  born  in  Ireland,  in  1724,  and 
although  from  personal  appearance  and  other  deficiencies  but  little  qualified 
for  the  office,  he  had  the  address  to  be  chosen  Master  of  the  Ceremonies  at 
Bath,  in  1764,  on  the  resignation  of  Mr.  Collett,  who  had  succeeded  Beau 
Nash.  He  had  been  in  the  army,  but  afterwards  supported  himself  by  writing 
for  the  booksellers.  He  was  author  of  several  works,  and  translated  others 
from  the  French,  among  which  was  Bergerac's  "  Voyage  to  the  Moon,"  pub- 
lished in  1753.  In  1755  he  produced  a  translation  in  English  verse,  of  the 
"  Third  Satire  of  Juvenal,"  in  quarto*.  The  "  View  of  the  Stage,"  which 
appeared  in  1759,  under  the  name  of  Wilkes,  was  written  by  Derrick  ;  and  in 
1762,  he  published  an  edition  of  "  Dryden's  Poetical  Works,  with  a  Life  and 
Notes,"  in  four  volumes,  8vo ;  but  this,  though  neatly  printed,  was  not  suc- 
cessful. He  also  supplied  Dr.  Johnson  with  the  materials  for  Dryden's  Life 
in  the  English  Poets ;  and  he  appears,  from  Boswell's  account,  to  have  been 
on  friendly,  if  not  familiar,  terms  with  that  great  moralist.  Johnson,  however, 
entertained  but  a  low  opinion  of  his  general  abilities,  for  in  a  conversation 
with  Boswell,  in  which  the  latter  had  remarked  that  Derrick  was  "  a  very 

*  In  Nichols's  "  Literary  Anecdotes,"  vol.  ii.  p.  371,  is  a  playful  letter  from  David  Mallet  to 

Derrick,  who  was  then  in  Dublin,  in  December  1760.     The  following  are  passages : — "  I  have 

seen  your  Translation  of  Juvenal,  and  like  it :  it  has  been  spoken  well  of  by  many  persons  of 

taste :  but  I  fear  you  will  find  it  hard  to  convert  reputation  into  profit.     Praise  is  a  good  sauce 

for  a  dinner ;  and  when  a  Poet  has  dined  heartily,  he  can  reflect  with  pleasure  on  his  rising  fame  :  I 

am  told  you  have  this  satisfaction  often  at  Lord  Shannon's  table."     Mallet  afterwards  advises  him 

to  secure  the  patronage  of  Lord  Shannon,  and  the  Lord  Primate,  whose  acquaintance  gave  him 

"  a  fair  opportunity  to  elude  the  farther  influence  of  evil  fortune,"  and  raise  himself  "  above  a 

state  of  dependence  and  attendance."     He  continues : — "  The  road  is  open,  the  view  clear :  a 

living  in  the  Church  will  handsomely  terminate  the  prospect.     The  Church-livings  in  Ireland  are 

very  comfortable.     In  Roman  Catholic  countries,  it  is  usual  for  the  unfortunate  to  take  refuge  in 

the  Church.     This  practice  is  not  confined  solely  to  foreign  countries :  there  have  been  instances 

of  gentlemen,  who  have  here  taken  the  air  on  Hounslow-heath,  exchanging  the  pistol  for  the  gown. 

Thus  have  they  eluded  the  vigilance  of  the  centries,  found  a  snug  sanctuary  in  the  Church,  and 

adorned  the  Island  of  Saints.     Why  should  not  a  fair  honest  character  succeed  in  your  case,  as 

well  as  daring  villainy  in  those  I  have  mentioned  ? — I  remember  an  old  French  dancing-master, 

(an  ancient  family-piece,)  who  had  long  depended  upon  the  late  Duke  of  Dorset  for  a  provision. 

His  Grace  was  appointed  Lord  Lieutenant  of  Ireland.     Monsieur  was  ordered  to  follow  in  his  train  : 

various  methods  of  settling-  him  were  proposed  :  all  were  clogged  with  insuperable  objections,  and 

unsurmountable  difficulties.     At  last  the  Church  was  thought  of;  and  though  he  knew  nothing  of 

Greek,  was  a  stranger  to  Latin,  could  not  read  English,  and  spoke  very  bad  French,  he  was  thrust 

into  Orders  by  some  obsequious  pander  to  his  Grace's  will ;  and,  I  am  assured,  was  inducted  into  a 

very  profitable  living." — 


BIOGRAPHICAL  ANECDOTES.  103 

poor  writer,"  Johnson  said — "  To  be  sure,  sir,  he  is  ;  but  you  are  to  consider 
that  his  being  a  literary  man  has  got  for  him  all  that  he  has  :  it  has  made  him 
king  of  Bath !  Sir,  he  has  nothing  to  say  for  himself,  but  that  he  is  a  writer. 
Had  he  not  been  a  writer,  he  must  have  been  sweeping  the  crossings  in  the 
streets,  and  asking  halfpence  from  every  body  that  past*."  This  caustic  se- 
verity of  expression  must  have  exceeded  the  truth ;  for  if  Derrick's  abilities 
in  literature  were  sufficient  to  exalt  him  to  the  post  of  Master  of  the  Cere- 
monies, they  would  doubtless  have  obtained  for  him  a  maintenance  in  other 
employments,  had  he  thought  proper  to  pursue  them.  On  another  occasion, 
Johnson,  when  speaking  of  his  "  Letters  from  Liverpool,  Chester,"  &c,  paid 
a  higher  compliment  to  his  literary  merit : — "  Had  they  been  written,"  he 
observed,  "  by  one  of  a  more  established  name,  they  would  have  been  thought 
very  pretty  Letters."  Boswell  says,  Derrick  was  his  "  first  tutor  in  the  ways 
of  London,"  and  shewed  him  "  the  town,  in  all  its  variety  of  departments, 
both  literary  and  sportive." 

Derrick's  reign  at  Bath  was  not  a,  peaceful  one.  His  diminutive  figure 
proved  a  drawback  upon  his  authority :  and  although  he  imitated  his  prede- 
cessor in  one  external  mark,  the  white  hat,  he  failed  in  the  more  essential 
attributes  of  office.  After  his  decease,  however,  on  the  28th  of  March,  1769, 
Bath  was  the  scene  of  yet  greater  commotion,  for  during  the  ardent  struggle 
for  the  election  of  his  successor,  the  Ball-room  became  a  field  of  battle,  in 
which  the  victory  was  so  strenuously  disputed,  that  even  the  ladies — who,  by 
the  bye,  are  said  to  have  begun  the  affray — engaged  in  real  combats :  nor 
was  it  till  the  deputy  town-clerk  had  read  the  riot  act  three  times,  under  the 
direction  of  the  mayor,  that  the  hostile  movements  of  the  warring  assembly 
could  be  reduced  to  decent  decorum.  Sheridan,  then  at  Bath,  thus  sketches 
the  scene,  in  a  poem  called  "  The  Ridotto :" — 

"  Fair  Nymphs  achieve  illustrious  feats ; 
Off  fly  their  tuckers,  caps,  and  tites.; 
Pins  and  pomatums  strew  the  room, 
Emitting  many  a  strange  perfume  : 

*  Boswell's  "  Life  of  Dr.  Johnson,"  vol.  i.  Boswell  states  that  Johnson  once  said  to  him : — 
"  Sir,  I  honour  Derrick  for  his  presence  of  mind.  One  night,  when  Floyd,  another  poor  author, 
[who  wrote  the  Bibliotheca  Biographica,  &c.  3  vols.  8vo,]  was  wandering  about  the  streets  in  the 
night,  he  found  Derrick  fast  asleep  upon  a  bulk ;  upon  being  suddenly  waked,  Derrick  started  up, 
'  My  dear  Floyd,  I  am  sorry  to  see  you  in  this  destitute  state ;  will  you  go  home  with  me  to  my 
lodgings!  '" 


104  BATH  ABBEY  CHURCH. 

Each  tender  form  is  strangely  batter'd, 
And  odd  things  here  and  there  are  scatter'd. 
In  heaps  confus'd  the  Heroines  lie ; 
With  horrid  shrieks  they  pierce  the  sky  : 
Their  charms  are  lost  in  scratches — scars — 
Sad  emblems  of  domestic  wars  !" 


John  Wall,  M.D.  Ob.  1776. — This  gentleman,  who  was  distinguished 
for  his  acquirements  in  various  branches  of  science,  was  born  at  Powick,  in 
Worcestershire,  in  the  year  1708.  He  was  partly  educated  at  the  College 
School,  Worcester,  of  which  city  his  father,  an  opulent  tradesman,  was  mayor, 
in  1703.  In  June  1726,  he  was  elected  scholar  of  Worcester  College,  Oxford; 
and  in  1735,  chosen  fellow  of  Merton  College  in  that  University.  He  after- 
wards settled  at  Worcester  in  the  practice  of  Physic ;  in  which  art  he  took 
his  Doctor's  degree  in  1739.  Dying  at  Bath  in  his  68th  year,  on  the  27th  of 
June,  1776,  he  was  buried  in  the  Abbey  Church.  He  published  a  "  Treatise 
on  the  Malvern  Waters,"  which  owe  a  great  part  of  their  reputation  to  his 
remarks ;  and  also  several  valuable  tracts,  chiefly  on  medicine :  these  were 
collected  and  printed  in  1780,  in  8vo,  by  his  son,  the  late  erudite  Dr.  Martin 
Wall,  F.R.S.,  Clinical  Professor  at  Oxford.  He  acquired  great  eminence 
in  those  branches  of  natural  philosophy  immediately  connected  with  physic 
and  the  arts ;  and  to  his  assiduous  researches,  in  conjunction  with  other  chy- 
mists,  to  discover  proper  materials  for  china-ware,  the  city  of  Worcester  is 
principally  indebted  for  the  establishment  of  its  porcelain  manufacture.  He 
is  described  as  skilful  in  the  principles  of  composition  and  painting :  a  speci- 
men of  his  talents  for  design  is  exhibited  in  the  east  window  of  the  chapel  of 
Oriel  College,  Oxford  :  he  also  designed  the  frontispieces  to  the  old  edition 
of  «'  Hervey's  Meditations,"  and  Cambridge's  "  Scribleriad." 


Lady  Miller.  Ob.  1781. — Among  those  individuals  who  have  contri- 
buted to  the  pleasures  of  social  intercourse  shared  by  the  votaries  of  fashion 
and  fortune  at  Bath,  this  lady  deserves  respectful  and  distinguished  notice. 
She  was  the  wife  of  Mr.  afterwards  Sir  John  Miller,  who  for  several  years 
resided  at  a  villa  which  he  had  built  at  Bath  Easton.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Miller 
made  a  tour  through  several  parts  of  Italy ;  and  an  account  of  their  journey 
was  afterwards  published  by  the  latter,  in  three  volumes,  octavo.     The  work, 


BIOGRAPHICAL  ANECDOTES.  105 

which  consists  of  a  series  of  letters,  contains  some  amusing  passages,  and 
much  information  relative  to  the  arts  and  manners  of  the  Italians.  This 
lady  is,  however,  chiefly  indebted  for  her  celebrity  to  the  Bath  Easton 
"  Poetical  Amusements,"  which  were  established  by  her  ladyship. 

An  antique  vase,  which  had  been  dug  up  at  Frascati,  in  Italy,  in  1759, 
and  purchased  by  Mr.  Miller,  was  placed  in  his  villa  at  Bath  Easton,  upon  a 
modern  altar,  decorated  with  sprigs  of  laurel,  and  made  the  receptacle,  at  a 
weekly  dies  festus,  of  the  poetical  productions  of  the  assembled  company, 
every  individual  being  expected  to  deposit  an  original  composition  in  verse 
within  the  venerable  relic.  These  at  first  consisted  of  what  the  French  term 
bouts  rimes,  or  rhyming  terminations,  which  had  been  filled  up  by  the  candi- 
dates for  poetical  fame ;  but,  afterwards,  of  short  pieces  upon  given  subjects. 
The  contributions  were  drawn  out  singly  by  a  lady,  and  publicly  read,  and  a 
committee  was  nominated  to  adjudge  wreaths  of  myrtle  to  the  authors  of  the 
most  eminent  of  the  poems,  who  were  then  crowned  by  the  high  priestess 
(Mrs.  Miller)  amidst  the  plaudits  of  the  assembly :  a  substantial  collation  con- 
cluded the  gala.  This  Attic  pastime  continued  for  several  years ;  but  at 
length  the  purity  of  the  sacred  vase  was  sullied  by  the  licentious  wit  of  some 
unknown  wag,  whose  satirical  production,  when  recited,  wounded  the  delicacy 
of  all  the  blushing  fair  ones  present,  and  the  meetings  were  discontinued 
for  ever.  Three  small  volumes,  however,  of  the  best  effusions  thus  elicited, 
were  published,  at  different  times,  under  the  title  of  "  Poetical  Amusements 
at  a  Villa  near  Bath,"  the  profits  of  which  were  applied  to  the  Pauper 
Charity  of  that  city.  Among  the  persons  whose  compositions  contributed  to 
these  volumes,  were  Messrs.  Anstey,  Graves,  Garrick,  Pratt,  Meyler,  and 
Miss  Seward,  with  others  of  literary  celebrity. 

Lady  Miller  was  buried  in  1781,  near  the  altar  in  the  Abbey  Church, 
where  a  handsome  monument  of  statuary  marble,  by  the  elder  Bacon,  is 
raised  to  her  memory  :  vide  page  77. 


Sir  William  Draper,  K.B.  Ob.  1787. — He  was  born  in  1721,  and 
after  an  education  at  Eton  and  Cambridge,  became  an  officer  in  the  army, 
and  acquired  considerable  fame  by  his  military  exploits  in  the  East  Indies. 
He  was  engaged  with  Admiral  Cornish  in  1763,  in  the  reduction  of  the 
Spanish  settlement  at  Manilla.  On  the  capture  of  the  fort,  Draper,  who 
then  held  the  rank  of  Colonel,  agreed  to  accept  of  four  millions  of  dollars, 


106  BATH  ABBEY  CHURCH.   - 

by  way  of  ransom  for  the  place.  This  money  was  never  paid  by  the  Spanish 
government ;  and  on  his  return  to  England,  becoming  a  member  of  Par- 
liament, he  complained  loudly  of  the  loss  sustained  by  himself  and  his 
comrades,  in  consequence  of  the  non-payment  of  what  was  termed  the 
Manilla  ransom.  After  some  time,  however,  the  murmurs  of  the  gallant  officer 
against  his  own  government,  and  that  of  Spain,  ceased.  He  was  honoured 
with  a  red  riband,  and  probably  received  more  substantial  tokens  of  minis- 
terial favour.  In  1769,  Sir  William  Draper  entered  the  lists  as  a  public 
antagonist  of  the  unknown  writer  of  the  "  Letters  of  Junius."*  In  the  course 
of  this  controversy  he  displayed  more  courage  than  prudence.  The  motive 
of  his  first  interference  was  the  defence  of  the  Marquess  of  Granby ;  but 
he  soon  became  involved  in  a  personal  dispute  with  the  soi-disant  Junius, 
which  led  to  a  challenge  from  Sir  William ;  who  in  vain  endeavoured  to 
provoke  his  sarcastic  adversary  to  lay  aside  his  mask  and  give  him  a 
meeting.  This  was  not  the  only  altercation  in  which  Sir  William  was 
engaged.  In  1779,  when  he  held  the  rank  of  a  general  officer,  he  was 
appointed  lieutenant-governor  of  the  island  of  Minorca.  On  the  surrender 
of  Port  Mahon,  the  capital,  he  preferred  charges  against  the  governor, 
General  Murray,  into  whose  conduct  an  inquiry  was  instituted  by  a  court 
martial ;  but  the  latter  was  honourably  acquitted,  and  his  accuser  required 
to  make  him  an  apology.     He  died  in  January  1787,  aged  66 :  vide  p.  79. 


The  Rev.  Osmund  Beauvoir,  D.D.    Ob.  1789. — Dr.  Beauvoir  was  the 
soil  of  the  Rev.  W.  Beauvoir,  who  was  descended  from  a  French  family,  long 

*  The  energy,  acumen,  sarcasm,  and  political  knowledge,  displayed  in  these  popular  letters, 
were  calcu'ated  to  rouse  public  curiosity  in  an  extraordinary  degree  ;  but  the  unexampled  secrecy 
and  mystery  attending  their  publication,  and  which  have  continued  to  shroud  their  author  for  more 
than  fifty  years,  have  perhaps  given  them  more  notoriety  than  would  ever  have  arisen  from  their 
inherent  merits.  Many  attempts  have  been  made,  by  different  writers,  to  unravel  the  mystic 
thread,  but  not  one  has  accomplished  the  task :  at  least  the  public  still  require  more  satisfactory 
evidence,  to  identify  the  author.  Averse  to  political  controversy,  and  hostile  as  I  hope  ever  to  be 
to  party  disputation,  I  have  neglected  to  prosecute  an  inquiry  on  this  subject  which  was  commenced 
about  fifteen  years  ago, — and  which,  had  it  been  then  pursued,  I  am  confident  would  have  produced 
demonstration  in  the  place  of  conjecture. — Mr.  Morris,  who  retired  to  Box — Dr.  Popham,  who 
lived  at  Lacock — Colonel  Barre,  Counsellor  Dunning,  Lord  Ashburton,  and  William,  Marquess  of 
Lansdowne,  were  acquainted  with  some  of  the  secrets  of  "  Junius;"  and  one,  at  least,  of  the 
above-named  persons,  was  privy  to  the  whole  correspondence  : 

"  Stat  nominis  umbra." 


BIOGRAPHICAL  ANECDOTES.  107 

settled  in  the  county  of  Kent.  He  held  successively  several  preferments  in 
the  church ;  and  at  length  was  made  one  of  the  Six  Preachers  of  Canterbury 
cathedral.  He  was  also  Head  Master  of  the  Free  Grammar  School  at  Can- 
terbury. Mr.  Hasted  says  — "  Of  the  masters  who  have  presided  over 
this  school,  many  have  been  men  of  eminence  as  clergymen  and  scholars. 
One  of  them  I  can  mention  of  my  own  knowledge,  and  whoever  knew  him 
will  join  in  this  tribute  to  his  memory.  I  mean  the  Rev.  Dr.  O.  Beauvoir, 
late  Head  Master  of  it,  first  educated  here,  and  afterwards  of  St.  John's 
College,  in  Cambridge,  whose  great  abilities  brought  this  school  to  the 
highest  degree  of  estimation  ;  who  united  the  gentleman  with  the  scholar ; 
one  whose  eminent  qualifications  and  courtesy  of  manners  gained  him  the 
esteem  and  praise  of  all  who  knew  him*." 

In  1784,  Dr.  Beauvoir  was  elected  F.S.A.  ;  and  he  occasionally  com- 
municated articles  of  curiosity  to  the  Society.  Though  a  man  of  talents 
and  learning,  his  literary  labours  were  not  very  important.  He  afforded 
some  assistance  to  Mr.  Gosling,  in  his  "  Walk  through  Canterbury,"  and 
the  description  of  the  great  painted  window  in  that  work,  at  the  north 
end  of  the  west  transept  in  Canterbury  Cathedral,  was  written  by  him. 
He  also  communicated  to  Dr.  Maclaine  the  correspondence  of  Archbishop 
Wake  with  some  of  the  Doctors  of  the  Sorbonne,  relative  to  a  scheme  of 
union  between  the  English  and  Gallican  churches,  which  partly  originated 
with  the  father  of  Dr.  Beauvoir.  These  interesting  letters  were  published 
by  Dr.  Maclaine,  in  his  translation  of  Mosheim's  "  Ecclesiastical  Historyf." 
He  died  at  Bath,  July  1,  1789,  and  was  interred  in  the  south  aile  of  the 
Abbey  Church. 

Thomas  Postlethwaite,  D.D.  Ob.  1798. — He  was  a  native  of  Lan- 
caster, and  educated  at  Cambridge,  in  which  University  he  succeeded 
Dr.  Hinchcliffe,  as  Master  of  Trinity  College,  in  1789.  Although  accounted 
one  of  the  ablest  mathematicians  in  the  University,  his  only  publication  was 
a  "  Sermon"  on  the  7th  chap,  of  Isaiah,  verses  14,  15,  and  16,  which 
was  preached,  in  two  parts,  at  St.  Mary's  Church,  in  December  1780.  He 
died  at  Bath,  aged  67,  on  the  4th  of  May,  1798,  having  previously  "be- 
queathed 2000/.  and  some  books,  to  his  College. 

*  See  Nichols's  "  Literary  Anecdotes,"  vol.  ix.  p.  352.  f  Ibid. 


108  BATH  ABBEY  CHURCH. 

William  Melmoth,  Esq.  Ob.  1799. — This  elegant  translator  of  the 
Epistles  of  Cicero  and  Pliny,  was  the  son  of  a  barrister  of  Lincoln's  Inn, 
who  was  distinguished  as  the  author  of  "  The  Great  Importance  of  a 
Religious  Life,"  a  small  publication  which  passed  through  numerous 
editions.  The  son,  who  was  born  in  1710,  and  brought  up  to  the  legal 
profession,  was  made  a  commissioner  of  Bankrupts  in  1756.  Having  a 
fortune  adequate  to  his  wishes,  this  gentleman,  during  the  last  forty  years  of 
his  life,  employed  himself  in  the  study  of  classical  literature,  towards  the 
cultivation  of  which  he  contributed,  by  the  publication  of  an  original  work, 
entituled  "  Letters  of  the  late  Sir  Thomas  Fitz-Osborne,  Bart,  on  Several 
Subjects,"  1748,  8vo,  as  well  as  by  his  excellent  translations  of  some  of 
the  letters  and  dialogues  of  Cicero,  and  of  the  letters  of  Pliny  the  younger. 
After  residing  for  some  time  at  Shrewsbury,  he  removed  to  Bath,  where  he 
continued  till  his  decease  in  1799.  He  was  buried  at  Bath  Easton ;  but  a 
tablet  to  his  memory  has  been  erected  in  the  Abbey  Church. 

Besides  the  publications  already  mentioned,  Mr.  Melmoth  wrote  several 
poems,  which  appeared  in  Dodsley's  and  Pearch's  Collections ;  and  he 
closed  his  literary  career  by  a  tribute  to  the  memory  of  his  father,  intituled, 
"  Memoirs  of  a  late  eminent  Advocate,  and  a  Member  of  the  Honourable 
Society  of  Lincoln's  Inn  :"  1796,  8vo.  The  worth  and  talents  of  this  gentleman 
excited  the  following  encomium  from  a  celebrated  satirist  of  the  last  century. 
"  William  Melmoth,  Esq.,  a  most  elegant  and  distinguished  writer,  '  near  half 
an  age  with  every  good  man's  praise.'  His  translations  of  Cicero  and  Pliny 
will  speak  for  him  while  Roman  and  English  eloquence  can  be  united.  Mr. 
Melmoth  is  a  happy  example  of  the  mild  influence  of  learning  on  a  cultivated 
mind  ;  I  mean  of  that  learning  which  is  declared  to  be  the  aliment  of  youth, 
and  the  delight  and  consolation  of  declining  years.  Who  would  not  envy  this 
'  fortunate  old  man '  his  most  finished  Translation  and  Comment  on  Tully's 
Cato  ?  or  rather  who  would  not  rejoice  in  the  refined  and  mellowed  pleasures 
of  so  accomplished  a  gentleman  and  so  liberal  a  scholar  *  ? "  For  his  epitaph, 
see  page  80. 

John  Sibthorp,  M.D.,  F.R.S.  Ob.  1800. — This  learned  physician  was 
celebrated   for   his   laborious   exertions   to  improve   the  science  of  Botany. 

*  "  Pursuits  of  Literature,"  part  iv.  p.  89.  Notes. 


BIOGRAPHICAL  ANECDOTES.  109 

After  passing  through  his  preliminary  studies  at  home,  he  visited  France  and 
Italy ;  and,  on  his  return,  was  honoured  with  the  Professorship  of  Botany,  at 
Oxford,  which  his  father,  also  a  physician,  resigned  in  his  favour.  In  1786, 
Dr.  Sibthorp  left  England  on  a  tour  through  Greece,  in  the  course  of  which 
he  accumulated  a  great  number  of  specimens  of  rare  and  curious  plants. 
Such  was  his  zeal  for  the  advancement  of  his  favourite  science,  that  not- 
withstanding the  delicate  state  of  his  health,  he  undertook  another  voyage  to 
Greece  in  1794.  In  the  course  of  both  these  journeys  he  made  collections 
for  a  splendid  work  on  the  plants  of  Greece,  intituled,  "  Flora  Gneca." 
On  his  last  tour,  Dr.  Sibthorp  was  seized  with  a  severe  pulmonary  complaint, 
which  obliged  him  to  return  to  his  native  country ;  and  he  became  a  resident 
at  Bath,  where  he  died,  in  1800.  His  premature  death  prevented  him  from 
methodizing  and  preparing  for  publication  the  stores  of  scientific  information 
which  he  had  drawn  together.  That  the  fruits  of  his  labours  might  not  be  lost, 
he  left  an  estate  to  the  University  of  Oxford,  the  product  of  which  was  to  be 
applied  to  defray  the  expense  of  arranging  and  publishing  the  Flora  Grceca  ; 
and  the  surplus  was  to  be  devoted  to  the  endowment  of  a  professorship  of 
Rural  Economy.  His  "  Flora  Oxoniensis"  was  published  in  8vo,  in  1794. 
Vide  page  81. 

The  Rev.  John  Howlett,  A.B.  Ob.  1804. — This  gentleman  was  the 
author  of  several  valuable  tracts  on  different  branches  of  Political  Economy, 
as  waste  lands,  enclosures,  population,  poor,  tithes,  &c.  At  the  time  of 
his  decease,  at  Bath,  February  the  25th,  1804,  he  was  Vicar  of  the  Parishes 
of  Great  Dunmow  and  Great  Baddow,  in  Essex. 


Archibald  Maclaine,  D.D.  Ob.  1804. — This  learned  divine  was 
born  at  Monaclan,  in  Ireland,  in  1722.  He  spent  the  principal  part  of  his  life 
in  a  foreign  country,  but  rendered  an  important  service  to  English  literature, 
by  his  well-known  translation  of  Mosheim's  "  Ecclesiastical  History."  Dr. 
Maclaine  was  educated  at  the  University  of  Glasgow,  and  being  frustrated 
in  an  attempt  to  obtain  episcopal  ordination  at  home,  he  accepted  an  invitation 
to  become  the  successor  of  his  uncle,  Dr.  Milling,  pastor  of  an  English 
church  at  the  Hague.  In  that  situation  he  remained  till  1794,  when  the 
hostile  progress  of  the  revolutionary  army  of  the  French  Republic  in  the 
Dutch  territories,  rendered  it  prudent  for  this  venerable  divine  to  return  to 


HO  BATH  ABBEY  CHURCH. 

England.  He  settled  at  Bath,  where  he  continued  to  reside  till  the  time  of 
his  death,  November  the  25th,  1804. 

Besides  the  translation  of  Mosheim's  historical  work,  Dr.  Maclaine  pub- 
lished, in  1777,  a  Series  of  Letters,  addressed  to  Soame  Jenyns,  Esq., 
containing  observations  on  the  celebrated  treatise  written  by  that  gentleman, 
on  "  the  Internal  Evidence  of  the  Christian  Religion."  He  was  also  under- 
stood to  have  supplied  the  editor  of  the  Monthly  Review,  for  many  years, 
with  articles  relating  to  foreign  literature. 

A  high  and  well-deserved  character  of  Dr.  Maclaine,  is  given  in  Nichols's 
"  Literary  Anecdotes,"  (vol.  ii.  p.  451,)  where  also  it  is  mentioned,  that  "  he 
was  brother  to  the  person  who  went  by  the  name  of  •  The  Gentleman  High- 
wayman,' who  had  been  a  grocer  in  Welbeck-street,  and  was  executed  at 
Tyburn,  Oct.  3,  1752,  attended  by  Dr.  Allen,  a  Presbyterian  minister,  who 
published  an  account  of  his  behaviour."  Some  general  particulars  of  Dr. 
Maclaine's  life  have  been  published  by  the  Rev.  R.  Warner,  in  an  Appendix  to 
a  Letter  addressed  to  the  Lord  Bishop  of  Gloucester,  "  On  the  Admission  to 
Holy  Orders  of  Young  Men  holding  Evangelical  Principles,"  8vo,  1818,  in 
which  he  gives  the  following  discriminating  summary  of  his  character  : — "  Wise, 
without  austerity ;  deeply  learned,  without  arrogance ;  sincerely  pious, 
without  ostentation ;  of  refined  wit,  untinctured  with  severity ;  of  polished 
manners,  unsophisticated  by  affectation ;  of  warm  benevolence  and  lively 
sensibility,  but  cool  in  judgment,  and  unbending  in  principle  :  he  lived  much 
in  the  world  without  being  injured  by  its  vices,  or  infected  with  its  follies  ; 
and  confuted,  by  a  visible  proof,  the  unsoundness  of  that  paradox  of  the 
ingenious  author  against  whom  he  exercised  his  pen,  (Soame  Jenyns,)  that 
the  religion  of  Jesus  Christ  cannot  go  hand  in  hand  with  secular  business, 
worldly  intercourse,  and  rational  social  enjoyment."  His  epitaph,  vide  p.  82, 
is  said  to  have  been  written  by  his  friend,  the  Rev.  John  Simpson*. 


Thomas  Pownall,  Esq.,  F.R.S.,  and  F.A.S.,  ob.  1805  ;  usually  termed 
Governor  Pownall,  from  the  circumstance  of  his  having  been  Governor  of  some 
of  the  North  American  colonies,  was  born  at  Lincoln,  in  1722.  In  1761, 
being  recalled  from  America,  he  was  appointed  Director-General  of  the  office 

*  Warner's  Letter :  the  Biographical  Sketch  of  Dr.  Maclaine  given  in  that  letter,  was  copied 
into  the  Gentleman's  Magazine  for  August  and  September  1818. 


BIOGRAPHICAL  ANECDOTES.  Ill 

of  Control,  in  Germany,  with  the  rank  of  Colonel  in  the  army.  Whilst  in 
that  situation,  he  was  charged  with  malversation  in  regard  to  a  purchase  of 
oats,  at  Bremen  ;  but  after  an  inquiry,  instituted  by  the  Lords  of  the  Treasury, 
the  charge  appeared  to  be  unfounded,  and  his  accuser,  Mr.  John  Guest,  In- 
spector of  the  Magazines  in  Germany,  was  dismissed  from  his  situation. 
In  1768,  he  became  a  Member  of  the  House  of  Commons,  where  he  dis- 
tinguished himself  by  his  opposition  to  the  war  with  America.  He  was 
attached  to  literary  pursuits,  and  was  a  frequent  contributor  to  the  Archaeo- 
logical volumes  of  the  Society  of  Antiquaries,  of  which,  as  well  as  of  the 
Royal  Society,  he  was  a  Fellow.  He  died  at  Bath,  on  the  25th  of  February, 
1805,  in  his  85th  year,  of  a  disease  of  the  heart;  and  was  buried,  in  con- 
formity to  his  own  directions,  in  Walcot  church,  in  "  an  oaken  coffin,  without 
ornament  or  inscription :"  but  a  monument  has  been  raised  to  his  memory 
in  the  Abbey  Church.  His  writings  are  numerous  and  important :  they 
include  various  branches  of  political  inquiry,  antiquities,  and  science. 


Christopher  Anstey,  Esq.  Ob.  1805. — Whilst  polished  ease  and 
elegance  in  colloquial  poetry,  intermingled  with  the  most  pointed  wit  and 
ingenious  sprightliness,  shall  continue  to  possess  any  influence  over  the  social 
feelings  of  the  human  breast,  the  well-deserved  fame  of  the  author  of  the 
"  New  Bath  Guide,"  will  flourish  in  all  its  pristine  raciness.  He  was  the 
son  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Anstey,  of  Trumpington,  near  Cambridge,  and  was  born 
in  the  year  1724.  After  commencing  his  classical  studies  at  Eton,  he  was 
elected  thence  to  King's  College,  Cambridge;  and  although  he  acquired  no 
academical  honours,  he  distinguished  himself  at  both  seminaries  as  an  elegant 
scholar.  Unfortunately,  however,  so  far  as  University  distinctions  were  in- 
volved, he  made  a  speech  in  the  Public  Schools  that  occasioned  his  rustication  ; 
to  which  circumstance  he  thus  alludes  in  the  epilogue  to  the  above  poem : 

—  Of  Granta,  sweet  Granta,  where,  studious  of  ease, 
Seven  years  did  I  sleep,  and  then  lost  my  degrees  ! 

The  immediate  cause  of  this  event  were  the  words,  "  Doctores  sine  doct rind, 
magistri  artium  sine  artibus,  et  baccalauri  baculo  potiiis  quam  lauro  digni,"  &c. 
with  which  he  began  his  speech,  and  which  originated  in  the  umbrage  he  had 
taken  at  some  unfairness  of  treatment  on  the  part  of  his  superiors. 


112  BATH  ABBEY  CHURCH. 

After  quitting  College  he  went  into  the  army,  and  having  married  into 
the  family  of  Calvert,  the  celebrated  brewer,  he  fixed  his  residence  at  Bath, 
his  first  house  being  in  the  Royal  Crescent.  This  locality  brought  him  into 
close  contact  with  the  numerous  votaries  of  folly  and  fashion,  who  flocked 
to  this  city,  and  from  whose  general  manners  and  conduct  he  drew  the 
admirable  sketches  which  constitute  his  "  Memoirs  of  the  Blunderhead 
family,"  in  the  poetical  Bath  Guide,  which  was  first  published  in  1765. 
Many  editions  of  this  admirable  composition  have  issued  from  the  press  ; 
but  it  is  remarkable  that  the  author  never  attached  his  name  to  any  of  them. 
The  rich  vein  of  original  humour,  the  playful  wit,  keen  irony,  and  shrewd 
discernment,  so  remarkably  displayed  in  this  poem,  blended  with  the  most 
beautiful  classic  allusions,  and  apt  similies,  and  modulated  by  harmonious 
versification,  have  extended  its  popularity  far  beyond  the  common  period  of 
local  and  satirical  productions  :  and  its  fame  will  continue  to  endure,  notwith- 
standing that,  the  writer,  in  one  or  two  instances,  by  following  too  closely  the 
enthusiastic  language  of  the  Methodists,  has  been  betrayed  into  a  vivid 
fervour  of  expression  that  raises  the  blush  on  the  cheek  of  beauty,  and  is 
offensive  to  the  delicate  mind. 

In  1767,  Mr.  Anstey  produced  his  "Monody  on  the  Death  of  the  Marquis 
of  Tavistock,"  father  of  the  late  Duke  of  Bedford,  which  is  written  in  blank 
verse,  with  much  tenderness  and  pathos.  He  was  also  one  of  the  earliest 
contributors  to  the  poetical  Vase  at  Lady  Miller's;  and  in  reply  to  some 
scurrilous  strictures  on  the  amusements  at  her  hospitable  villa,  which  ap- 
peared at  Bath  under  the  signatures  of  Regulus,  Toby,  Caesar,  &c.  he  pub- 
lished, in  1774,  a  strong  philippic  against  "  anonymous  assassins,"  intituled 

"  The  Priest  Dissected,"  &c,  4to.,  addressed  to  the  Rev.  Mr. ,  whom 

he  conceived  to  be  the  author  of  the  lampoons  in  question.  In  1776,  the  flow 
and  elegance  of  his  Latinity  were  made  evident  by  a  comic  satire  addressed 
to  his  ingenious  friend,  C.  W.  Bamfylde,  of  Hestercombe,  in  Somerset- 
shire,* on  the  humours  of  an  "  Election  Ball."  This  he  soon  afterwards 
translated  into  the  Somersetshire  dialect,  and  next  into  plain  English,  in 
the  manner  of  the  Bath  Guide. 

*  The  grounds  and  woods  at  Hestercombe  are  celebrated  for  their  beauty.  The  figure  of  a 
painted  Witch,  in  a  hermitage,  elicited  the  following  compliment  from  the  pen  of  the  late  Dr.  Lang- 
horne:  — 

"  O'er  Bamfylde's  woods,  by  various  nature  grac'd, 
A  Witch  presides;  but  then  that  Witch  is  Taste  !" 


BIOGRAPHICAL  ANECDOTES.  113 

Mr.  Anstey  wrote  various  other  poems  besides  those  already  mentioned ; 
and  also  numerous  jeux  desprit  at  different  times  :  he  likewise  translated 
several  of  Gay's  Fables  into  Latin  verse ;  and  in  the  very  evening  of  his  days, 
in  the  eightieth  year  of  his  age,  addressed  an  elegant  Latin  Alcaic  Ode  to 
Dr.  Jenner,  on  the  subject  of  Vaccine  Inoculation,  in  which  he  very  feelingly 
alludes  to  the  ravages  made  by  the  "  foul  pest"  in  his  own  family. 

Whilst  Mr.  Anstey  resided  in  the  Crescent,  it  was  in  contemplation  by 
the  proprietor  of  the  ground-rents  to  convert  the  lawn-like  fields  in  front  of 
the  houses  into  a  kitchen-garden ;  but  this  profanation  of  good  taste  was 
prevented  by  the  judicious  ridicule  of  Anstey 's  muse,  in  a  pleasing  "  Ode, 
on  an  Early  View  of  the  Crescent,"  in  which  every  stanza  ended  by  the 
words  "  Sir  Peter  Rivers  Gay."  The  mania  for  building,  however,  afterwards 
deprived  our  poet  of  a  favourite  spot  of  ground  which  he  had  cultivated. 
To  dissipate  or  record  his  chagrin  he  produced  this  epigram  : 

"  Ye  men  of  Bath  who  stately  mansions  rear, 
To  wait  for  tenants  from  the  devil  knows  where, 
Would  you  pursue  a  plan  which  cannot  fail, 
Erect  a  mad-house,  and  enlarge  your  jail." 

Mr.  Anstey  died  at  Harnish,  or  Hardenhuish,  in  Wiltshire,  at  the  seat  of 
his  son-in-law,  Henry  Bosanquet,  Esq.,  on  the  3d  of  August,  1805,  he  being 
then  in  his  81st  year.  He  was  interred  in  Walcot  church,  Bath;  but  an 
inscribed  tablet  to  his  memory  has  been  erected  in  Poets'  Corner,  West- 
minster Abbey,  and  another  in  this  church.  His  poetical  works,  with  some 
account  of  his  life  and  writings,  were  published  in  a  quarto  volume,  in  1810, 
by  his  son,  John  Anstey,  Esq.  a  Barrister,  whose  "  Pleader's  Guide"  proves 
him  to  inherit  no  inconsiderable  portion  of  the  talents  of  his  father,  who, 
as  we  learn  from  a  passage  in  his  "  Priest  Dissected,"  had 

"  Ten  sweet  pledges  of  connubial  joys." 


Walsh  Porter,  Esq.  Ob.  1809.— This  gentleman  was  distinguished  by 
his  attachment  to  literature  and  the  fine  arts,  and  left  ample  memorials  of 
his  taste  by  the  collection  of  pictures  formed  by  himself.  His  dramatic 
productions  have  merit.  He  died  very  suddenly,  at  Dawlish  Villa,  his  resi- 
dence near  Bath,  in  May  1809,  in  consequence  of  the  bursting,  as  supposed, 


114  BATH  ABBEY  CHURCH. 

of  an  abscess  in  his  liver,  which  had  been  long  diseased.  A  tablet  to  his 
memory,  (with  others  to  some  of  his  relatives,)  is  attached  to  the  north  wall 
of  the  nave  in  the  Abbey  Church,  where  he  was  interred. 


Signor  Venanzio  Rauzzini.  Ob.  1810. — The  union  of  professional 
excellence,  with  amiable  manners  and  integrity  of  conduct,  cannot  fail  of 
securing  to  the  enviable  possessor  the  sincere  esteem  of  all  private  associates, 
as  well  as  the  general  approbation  of  the  public.  Such  an  union  existed 
in  Rauzzini,  a  man  pre-eminent  as  a  musical  preceptor  and  performer, 
but  still  more  estimable  as  a  friend  or  familiar  acquaintance.  Those  who 
knew  him  best,  esteemed  him  most.  As  there  was  neither  art  nor  duplicity 
in  his  disposition,  his  natural  character  was  soon  perceived,  and  as  soon 
beloved.  Of  such  a  man  it  cannot  be  uninteresting  to  detail  a  few  biogra- 
phical particulars. 

Venanzio  Rauzzini  was  a  native  of  Rome.  At  an  early  age  he  displayed 
so  decided  a  fondness  for  music,  that  his  parents  were  induced  to  educate 
him  for  that  profession.  He  was  accordingly  placed  under  the  tuition  of  a 
friar,  who  had  no  voice  or  power  of  singing  himself,  but,  from  his  acquaintance 
with  the  theory  of  music,  was  a  good  teacher.  He  quitted  Rome  while 
young ;  yet  such  was  his  genius  and  application,  that  we  are  told,  even 
then,  "  he  was  so  well  practised  in  singing,  and  in  the  general  knowledge  of 
music,  that  he  could  take  up  the  most  difficult  composition,  reverse  the  page 
as  he  held  it  before  him,  and  not  only  read  the  notes  thus  inverted,  but 
in  that  state  sing  the  air  at  sight,  with  the  most  perfect  correctness  of  time 
and  intonation*."  He  afterwards  travelled  into  Germany,  and  while  still  in 
early  youth,  was  engaged  as  principal  singer  at  the  Opera  at  Vienna.  At 
that  period  he  was  favoured  with  the  friendship  of  Metastasio,  who  took 
much  pleasure  in  his  company.  His  musical  talents  and  knowledge  speedily 
attracted  the  public  attention,  and  he  became  the  idol  of  the  cognoscenti,  the 
favourite  of  princes,  and  the  delight  of  all  who  heard  himf. 

*  "  Monthly  Mirror,  New  Series,"  vol.  i.  p.  227. 

f  "  The  enthusiasm  of  the  people  in  his  favour  is  evinced  by  the  following  anecdote,  which  fur- 
nishes one  more  fact  in  addition  to  the  numerous  instances  of  the  power  of  song.  At  the  Opera 
at  Vienna,  it  is  contrary  to  the  usual  decorum  of  the  place,  and  to  the  order  of  the  court,  for  the 
persons  in  the  pit  to  give,  in  the  presence  of  the  Emperor,  public  and  vociferous  applause  to  a  per- 
former ;  but  on  the  first  night  of  Rauzzini's  appearance,  "when  he  concluded  a  song  in  which  he 


BIOGRAPHICAL  ANECDOTES.  115 

From  Vienna,  Rauzzini  removed  to  Munich  and  entered  into  the  service  of 
the  Elector  of  Bavaria.  During  his  residence  at  Munich,  where  he  con- 
tinued several  years,  Dr.  Burney  visited  that  capital,  and  had  repeated  oppor- 
tunities of  witnessing  his  powers.  In  his  Musical  Tour,  the  Doctor  says,  "  The 
first  singer  in  the  Serious  Opera  here,  is  Signor  Rauzzini,  a  young  Roman 
performer  of  singular  merit,  who  has  been  six  years  in  the  service  of  this 
court,  but  is  engaged  to  sing  in  an  Opera  composed  by  young  Mozart,  at 
the  next  carnival  at  Milan.  He  is  not  only  a  charming  singer,  a  pleasing 
figure,  and  a  good  actor,  but  a  more  excellent  contrapuntist  and  performer 
on  the  harpsichord  than  a  singer  is  usually  allowed  to  be,  as  all  kind  of  appli- 
cation to  the  harpsichord  or  composition  is  supposed  by  the  Italians  to  be 
prejudicial  to  the  voice.  Signor  Rauzzini  has  set  two  or  three  comic  operas 
here,  which  have  been  very  much  approved  ;  and  he  shewed  and  sung  to  me 
several  airs  of  a  serious  cast,  that  were  well  written,  and  in  an  exquisite 
taste."  In  another  place,  he  says — "  Rauzzini  had,  in  an  obliging  manner, 
thrown  himself  in  the  Elector's  way,  on  purpose  to  be  asked  to  sing,  that 
I  might  hear  him,  which  I  had  expressed  a  great  desire  to  do,  with  a  band ; 
for  though  he  is  first  singer  at  the  Serious  Opera,  in  winter,  yet  he  never 
performs  at  the  summer  concerts  unless  particularly  desired." 

In  1774  Rauzzini  came  to  England,  and  was  engaged  as  one  of  the  princi- 
pal singers  at  the  Opera-house.  He  soon  attained  great  eminence  both  as 
a  singer  and  an  actor.  Garrick,  who  witnessed  his  performance  of  Monte- 
zuma, in  the  opera  of  that  title,  was  so  captivated  by  his  abilities,  that  he  ran 
behind  the  scenes,  and  catching  Rauzzini  in  his  arms,  embraced  him  with 
enthusiasm. 

Among  his  principal  works  are  the  operas  of  Pyramo  e  Tisbe,  L'AU  cTAmore, 
L'Eroe  Cinese,  Creusa  in  Delfo,  La  Regina  di  Golconda,  and  La  Vestale.     He 

had  displayed  his  full  powers,  the  audience,  with  one  consent,  joined  in  a  universal  cry  of  bravo. 
The  fashionable  decencies  were  violated,  the  court  was  offended,  and  placards  were  affixed  to  the 
avenues  of  the.  theatre  and  in  the  conspicuous  parts  of  the  house,  complaining  of  the  impropriety 
of  these  proceedings,  and  strictly  enjoining  the  discontinuance  of  similar  applause  for  the  future ; 
and  to  enforce  the  Imperial  mandate,  additional  guards  were  placed  in  the  pit.  Rauzzini  appeared 
a  second  time — a  second  time  he  was  applauded  by  the  pit :  the  ladies  waved  their  handkerchiefs, 
and  the  men  vociferated  bravo  to  the  very  echo  that  redoubled  their  applause.  Whether  the 
court  submitted  to  the  popular  voice,  and  rescinded  the  edict,  or  continued  to  impose  the  duty  of 
mute  approbation  to  vocal  excellence,  we  know  not ;  but  of  the  fact  we  are  well  assured,  and  it  is 
curious."—"  Monthly  Mirror,"  vol.  i.  p.  228. 


116  BATH  ABBEY  CHURCH. 

composed  with  great  facility.  The  opera  of  Pyramus  and  Thisbe  was  finished 
in  three  weeks ;  and  another  piece,  which  was  not  begun  till  Sunday  evening, 
was  performed  at  a  public  concert  on  the  Wednesday  following.  Such  was 
the  opinion  entertained  of  Rauzzini's  talents,  not  only  as  a  singer,  but  as  an 
actor,  that  he  was  complimented  with  the  title  of  "  the  Italian  Garrick." 

Notwithstanding  his  great  success,  he  left  the  stage  at  an  early  period,  in 
consequence  of  peculiar  and  unconquerable  sensibility,  as  he  never  made  his 
appearance  as  a  public  performer  without  feeling  considerable  trepidation. 
He  retired  to  Bath,  and  commenced  as  Professor  of  music,  and  also  entered 
into  a  connexion  with  La  Motte  as  Director  of  the  public  concerts.  The  impru- 
dence of  his  coadjutor  soon  obliged  that  gentleman  to  withdraw  from  the  manage- 
ment of  the  undertaking,  and  Rauzzini  was  left  sole  conductor  of  the  musical 
exhibitions  at  Bath.  This  station  he  filled  for  thirty  years,  much  to  the 
satisfaction  of  the  company  to  whose  amusement  he  contributed.  The  fol- 
lowing observations  coincide  with  the  general  opinion  which  was  entertained 
of  the  liberality  and  professional  ability  displayed  by  Rauzzini,  in  the  direc- 
tion of  the  public  concerts,  and  as  the  fosterer  of  musical  genius  :  —  "Of  this 
man,  though  barely  to  make  mention  be  sufficient  for  fame,  the  grateful  senti- 
ments of  every  child  of  music  will,  we  believe,  start  forward  to  accompany 
us,  while  we  offer  a  passing  tribute  to  his  character.  Rauzzini,  long  since 
possessed  of  the  favour  of  the  public  as  a  singer,  and  conspicuous  as  a  com- 
poser, preferring  the  retirement  of  Bath,  and  giving  celebrity  to  the  little 
adjacent  hill  of  Hanging  Land*,  appears  in  the  fair  horizon  of  that  city  as 
the  inspiring  genius  of  melody  ;  and  in  her  musical  orgies,  he  is  her  minister- 
ing priest.  Accomplished  in  all  the  learning  and  all  the  graces  of  his  art, 
he  imparts  the  light  of  his  mind  to  every  professional  student  whom  a  requi- 
site degree  of  talent  entitles  to  seek  his  assistance.  His  house  is  by  degrees 
become  a  kind  of  musical  Lyceum ;  and  a  singer  untutored  by  Rauzzini 
appears  but  half  accomplished.  In  fact  the  most  eminent  among  the  favourites 
of  the  public,  of  the  present  moment,  are  found  in  the  list  of  his  scholars. 
To  the  improvement  acquired  at  his  lyceum,  the  singular  liberality  of  the 
master's  disposition  has  moreover  appended  advantages  seldom  attendant  on 
other  schools.  Without  any  greater  resources  of  fortune  than  those  which 
the  eminence  of  his  talents  lays  open  to  him,  he  receives  and  entertains  in 

*  Here  Rauzzini  had  a  country  house  called  Perry-Mead  Villa,  which  was  his  summer  resi- 
dence. 


BIOGRAPHICAL  ANECDOTES.  117 

his  hospitable  mansion  those  very  students  who  come  to  him  for  the  purpose 
of  profiting  by  his  instructions.  Every  professional  person  finds  a  home 
at  Rauzzini's.  After  what  has  been  related,  it  is  almost  unnecessary  to  say 
that  he  is  as  beloved  as  he  is  respected,  and  is  no  less  the  delight  than  the 
ornament  of  the  class  to  which  he  belongs*." 

Signor  Rauzzini  died  in  1810,  at  the  age  of  62,  at  his  residence  in  Gay 
Street,  Bath.  The  funeral  honours  bestowed  on  him  evinced  the  great  respect 
in  which  his  character  was  generally  held.  At  his  interment,  in  the  Abbey 
Church,  a  select  number  of  his  musical  friends,  including  Mr.  Braham,  ap- 
peared as  mourners,  and  a  numerous  and  respectable  body  of  gentlemen 
made  a  part  of  the  funeral  procession. 

The  fame  acquired  by  several  of  the  pupils  of  Rauzzini  is  highly  honour- 
able to  the  skill  of  their  preceptor.  Among  them  were  Madame  Mara,  Mrs. 
Billington,  Signora  Storace,  Mrs.  Mountain,  Mr.  Braham,  and  Mr.  Incledon. 

None  of  Rauzzini's  pupils  were  treated  with  more  attention,  or  better 
recompensed  the  exertions  of  their  instructor,  than  Mr.  Braham.  That  gen- 
tleman was  articled  to  Rauzzini  for  three  years,  and,  residing  in  his  house, 
experienced  from  him  many  marks  of  friendly  and  almost  paternal  kindness. 
At  the  first  interview,  the  instructor  requested  the  musical  tyro  to  sing,  and 
accompanied  him  on  the  piano-forte.  With  diffidence  and  trepidation  the 
young  scholar  went  through  the  piece.  Rauzzini  closed  the  instrument  in 
silence — paused — and  at  length  turning  round,  said — "  Dat  vill  do — Master 
Braham  vill  make  de  first  rate  singer.  Ve  vill  dine  togedder,  and  talk  about 
songs."  Under  such  a  master,  we  cannot  doubt  but  the  current  of  time  ran 
smooth  |.  The  period  of  tuition  soon  passed  away,  leaving  in  the  breasts  of 
each  an  esteem  for  the  other,  which  lasted  during  the  life  of  the  master,  and 
since  his  death  has  been  manifested  by  the  pupil,  by  raising,  in  conjunction 
with  Signora  Storace,  a  neat  sepulchral  tablet  to  his  memory,  near  the  place 
of  interment,  with  an  inscription  from  the  pen  of  Dr.  Harington,  in  which  his 
professional  abilities,  characteristic  deportment,  and  liberality  of  sentiment, 
are  duly  commemorated. 

Enough  has  already  been  related  to  illustrate  the  musical  genius  and  ability 

*  "  Monthly  Mirror,"  vol.  xvi.  for  July  1803,  p.  6. 

f  As  an  instance  of  liberality  honourable  to  both  parties,  it  may  be  mentioned  that  Rauzzini 
often  paid  Mr.  Braham  for  singing  at  his  concerts  whilst  the  latter  was  his  pupil ;  and  Braham, 
after  returning  from  Italy,  sung  at  Rauzzini's  concerts  without  accepting  any  compensation. 


118  BATH  ABBEY  CHURCH. 

of  Rauzzini,  and  to  prove  the  general  excellence  of  his  private  character.  A 
few  anecdotes  may  be  added,  to  shew  the  peculiar  playfulness  of  his  disposi- 
tion. A  female  pupil,  in  rehearsing  the  sacred  song  of  Handel,  "  Pious  orgies, 
pious  airs,"  dwelt  so  long  on  the  first  syllable  pi,  that  Rauzzini  exclaimed, 
"  Vat  pie,  mine  dear,  plum  pie  or  apple  pie  ?" 

At  one  of  his  concerts,  a  person  named  Mathews,  a  butcher,  who  was 
chorus-singer,  was  very  desirous  to  be  allowed  to  sing  a  solo.  But  in  answer 
to  his  troublesome  importunities,  Rauzzini  only  said,  "  Go  home,  Mr.  Mad- 
dew;  go  home,  and  kill  von  sheep,— go  kill  de  sheep." 

When  it  was  stated  before  him  that  Bartleman  had  not  the  defects  of 
other  singers,  he  replied,  "  No;  but  he  has  his  own." 

An  ignorant  musician,  who  had  conceived  a  pique  against  him,  addressed 
a  letter  "  to  Mr.  Rauzzini,  Singing  Master;"  to  which  Rauzzini  returned  an 
answer,  addressed  *'  Mr.  Professor  of  Music  ! ! !" 


Ely  Bates,  Esq.  Ob.  1812. — He  was  a  gentleman  of  fortune,  who  distin- 
guished himself  by  defending  civil  government  and  religious  order,  in  several 
respectable  publications,  all  of  which  display  a  peculiarity  of  opinion  far 
removed  from  the  common-place  arguments  of  general  society.  His  prin- 
cipal works  are,  "  Chinese  Fragments,"  &c,  of  which  a  second  edition, 
enlarged,  was  published  in  1811;  "  Christian  Politics,  containing  a  View  of 
Civil  Government,  in  its  Influence  on  Virtue  and  Happiness,"  &c,  in  four 
parts,  1802 — 6 ;  "  Rural  Philosophy,"  &c,  1803 :  the  latter  was  his  most 
popular  production.  He  died  at  the  age  of  68,  on  the  4th  of  January,  1812, 
and  was  buried  in  the  Abbey  Church,  in  the  north  aile  of  the  choir :  for 
his  epitaph,  see  page  76. 


Henry  Harington,  M.D.  Ob.  1816. — During  a  long  series  of  years 
the  name  of  Dr.  Harington  has  been  closely  interwoven  both  with  the  medi- 
cal and  musical  annals  of  this  city,  with  which,  indeed,  his  ancestors  have 
been  historically  connected  from  the  period  of  Henry  the  Eighth's  reign. 
He  was  immediately  descended  from  the  Sir  John  Harington,  knt.,  of  Kel- 
ston,  to  whose  solicitude  for  the  restoration  of  the  Abbey  Church,  Bath  is  so 
greatly  indebted,  and  of  whose  superior  intellectual  attainments  we  have 
such  decided  proofs  in  the  "  Nugce  Antiques,"  and  other  works. 


BIOGRAPHICAL  ANECDOTES.  119 

Dr.  Harington  was  born  at  Kelston,  on  Michaelmas-day,  1727  :  he  re- 
ceived his  education  partly  at  home,  under  the  tuition  of  the  late  Rev.  Dr. 
Fothergill,  and  partly  at  Queen's  College,  Oxford,  where,  in  the  year  1762, 
he  took  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Physic.  He  had  been  originally  destined 
for  the  church,  but  about  the  time  of  receiving  his  Bachelor's  degree,  in 
1748,  he  declined  taking  orders.  After  quitting  Oxford,  and  uniting  himself 
in  marriage  with  the  accomplished  Miss  Meadows,  he  began  to  practise  as  a 
Physician  at  Wells ;  but  in  a  few  years  he  removed  to  Bath,  where  he  con- 
tinued to  reside  till  the  period  of  his  decease,  on  the  15th  of  January,  1816,  in 
his  89th  year,  a  long  time  previously  to  which  he  had  been  quite  blind. 

The  talents  and  acquirements  of  this  gentleman  were  multifarious.  To 
considerable  knowledge  of  his  profession,  he  added  an  intimate  acquaintance 
with  classical  literature  and  Latin  composition,  great  skill  as  a  musical  com- 
poser, much  taste  and  feeling  as  a  poet,  and  an  intimate  knowledge  of  the 
mathematical  sciences  and  mechanic  arts.  Music,  however,  was  his  favourite 
pursuit;  and  the  "  Harmonic  Society"  at  Bath,  is  indebted  to  him,  and  to  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Bowen,  for  its  foundation,  on  the  ruins  of  the  "  Catch  Club,"  in  1795. 
The  urbanity  of  his  manners,  the  ease  and  freedom  of  his  deportment,  and 
the  pleasing  mildness  of  his  address,  rendered  him  a  most  agreeable  com- 
panion ;  whilst  the  stores  of  anecdote  and  the  remarks  of  experience  which  he 
poured  forth  in  conversation,  equally  delighted  and  instructed  his  auditors. 

Among  the  prose  works  of  Dr.  Harington,  is  a  ■"  Treatise  on  the  Use  and 
Abuse  of  Music ;"  and  a  curious  tract,  intituled  "  stmboaon  TPisAnoN,  oi 
the  Geometrical  Analogy  of  the  Catholic  Doctrine  of  Trinity  consonant  to 
Human  Reason  and  Comprehension,  Typically  Demonstrated  and  Exem- 
plified by  the  Natural  Indivisible  Trinity  of  Simultaneous  Sounds,"  &c,  pub- 
lished in  1806.  Of  his  poetical  pieces,  the  humorous  ballad  called  the  "  Witch 
of  Wokey,"  is  probably  the  best  known ;  but  there  are  numerous  minor  effu- 
sions, of  varied  degrees  of  merit,  and  deserving  of  much  praise.  His  musical 
compositions  are  many  and  various,  from  the  light  and  laughable  catch,  to 
the  sublime  anthem. 

His  productions  are  characterised  by  originality  and  elegance,  which  could 
result  only  from  a  refined  taste  and  powerful  attainments.  The  "  Eloi,  or 
Last  Words  of  our  Blessed  Saviour  on  the  Cross  *,"  which  is  inscribed  upon 


*  This  fine  composition,  arranged  for  three  voices,  gave  rise,  on  its  first  performance,  to  an 

attack  by  Dr.  G ,  of  a  fashionable  Chapel  at  Bath,  on  the  author,  who  was  arraigned,  both 

for  his  presumption  in  setting  such  words  to  music,  and  for  his  yet  greater  impropriety  in  suffering 


120  BATH  ABBEY  CHURCH. 

his  monument  in  the  Abbey  Church,  was  composed  at  the  age  of  three- 
score and  ten.  His  monument  was  erected  by  subscription,  and  the  follow- 
ing pleasing  lines  were  written  by  the  late  Archdeacon  Thomas,  (who  married 
Dr.  Harington's  daughter,)  on  hearing  that  the  inhabitants  of  Bath  intended 
thus  to  honour  his  memory : 

"  Belov'd,  rever'd,  and  mourn'd,  adieu  ! 
Thy  praise  let  grateful  Baden  tell ; 
With  conscious  pride,  to  virtue  true, 
Whilst  timidly  I  touch  the  shell. 

"  Unknown  thy  bright  meridian  blaze, — 
Thy  setting  radiance  shone  on  me ; 
Reflected  long — those  parting  rays 
Shall  warm  the  heart  that  honour'd  thee. 

"  Religion,  Science,  Taste,  combine, 
Thy  votive  Tablet  high  to  rear  : 
The  humble  privilege  be  mine, 
With  ling'ring  steps  to  wander  near. 

"  To  think,  as  length  of  days  was  given, 
You  honour'd  lived,  lamented  died  ; 
Each  day  still  brought  you  nearer  Heav'n, 
Your  faith  matur'd,  your  virtue  tried. 

"  To  weep, — but  not  for  you  to  mourn, 
Your  race  is  run,  your  crown  is  sure ; 
To  tremble,  bending  o'er  your  urn, 
Lest  I  should  deem  my  self  secure." 

his  music  to  be  performed  at  a  place  of  public  entertainment.  Dr.  Harington,  however,  was  warmly 
defended  in  the  Bath  Papers,  by  different  friends.  He  afterwards  composed,  as  a  companion  to  the 
"  Eloi,"  our  Saviour's  "  Prayer"  in  the  Garden  of  Gethsemane,  which  was  sung  by  the  late  Mr. 
Harrison,  the  only  time  it  was  performed  in  public.  These  pieces  are  at  once  simple  and  sublime, 
and  admirably  calculated  to  excite  and  increase  devotion  in  all  lovers  of  sacred  music.  The  "  Eloi  " 
produced  a  most  friendly  and  flattering  letter  from  the  late  Dr.  Burney.  It  is  always  sung  on  Good 
Friday,  at  the  Abbey,  and  at  several  other  churches  at  Bath  ;  and  is  also  introduced  in  the  Oratorio 
of  the  Messiah,  when  performed  in  this  city.  Dr.  Harington  published  it  himself;  he  likewise 
published  three  Collections  of  Songs,  Glees,  Elegies,  and  Canons:  a  fourth  Collection  has  been 
published  by  his  daughter,  the  widow  of  the  late  Archdeacon  Thomas.  Among  these  composi- 
tions are  the  popular  favourites  of  "  How  great  is  the  Pleasure;"  "  Give  me  the  sweet  Delights,  of 
Love ;"  "  Turn  Fair  Clora ;"  "  The  Yawning  Catch ;"  "  The  Quakers'  Catch ;"  "  The  Laughing 
Catch;"  "  Sing  Old  Rose,  and  burn  the  Bellows;"  "  Old  Thomas  Day;"  "  The  Alderman's 
Thumb ;"  "  The  Stammering  Glee,"  &c. ;  an  "  Introductory  Glee,"  composed  for  the  Harmonic 
Society,  and  afterwards  published  singly ;  a  "  Grace  before  Dinner  or  Supper ;"  and  a  "  Glee  to 
be  sung  after  the  King's  Health." 


BIOGRAPHICAL  ANECDOTES.  121 

John  Palmer,  Esq.  M.P.  Ob.  1818.  —  Whilst  intellectual  capacity, 
mental  application,  and  persevering  ardour,  shall  continue  to  be  thought  de- 
serving of  fame  and  honourable  distinction,  the  name  of  John  Palmer  will 
not  only  be  ranked  in  the  highest  class  of  the  native  citizens  of  Bath,  but 
esteemed  worthy  also  of  being  enrolled  among  the  most  eminent  benefactors 
to  his  country ;  for  the  great  reform  introduced  by  that  gentleman  into  the 
Post-office  department,  and  the  victory  he  achieved  by  securing  its  final  and 
successful  adoption,  have  been  the  means  both  of  augmenting  the  revenue, 
and  of  extending  the  mercantile  and  commercial  interests  of  Britain,  in  a  very 
astonishing  degree. 

Mr.  Palmer  was  born  at  Bath,  in  the  year  1742  ;  his  father  was  a  respect- 
able and  affluent  brewer  in  that  city,  and  his  mother  a  descendant  of  the 
Longs,  one  of  the  most  ancient  families  in  the  county  of  Wilts.  His  early 
education  was  imparted  at  a  small  academy  at  Colerne  ;  from  which  he  was 
removed  to  the  Free-Grammar  School  at  Marlborough ;  his  family  having 
designed  him  for  the  Church,  and  there  being  some  valuable  scholarships  and 
exhibitions  attached  to  the  latter  seminary,  which  it  was  thought  might  aid 
(on  more  easy  terms)  the  prosecution  of  his  studies  at  one  of  the  universities. 
Though  fond  of  learning,  and  intended  for  the  Church,  he  preferred  the 
army, — a  destination  which  his  parents  would  not  listen  to ;  and  on  his  abso- 
lute refusal  to  enter  into  holy  orders,  he  was  taken  from  school,  and  seated 
in  the  counting-house  of  his  father's  brewery.  For  some  time  the  drudgery 
of  business  proved  irksome ;  but  one  day,  after  a  severe  dispute  on  the  martial 
theme,  he  sullenly  put  on  a  jacket  and  trowsers,  and,  going  into  the  brewery, 
began  to  labour  like  a  common  servant.  This  course  he  pursued  for  nearly  a 
year,  labouring  and  faring  exactly  like  the  other  workmen ;  but  at  length 
his  health  succumbed  to  his  spirits,  and  a  physician  and  change  of  air  were 
recommended  as  necessary  to  arrest  the  progress  of  an  incipient  consumption. 

Returning  to  Bath,  his  pursuits  were  directed  into  a  channel  more  agree- 
able to  the  bent  of  his  inclinations.  His  father,  in  conjunction  with  nine 
other  inhabitants  of  the  city,  had  been  induced  to  erect  a  new  Theatre  in 
Orchard  Street,  on  the  understanding  that  the  old  dilapidated  Playhouse 
under  the  Great  Ball-room  should  be  applied  to  some  other  purpose  as  soon 
ttj  the  new  one  was  completed ;  instead  of  which,  the  proprietor  re-opened 
tllusg  premises,  and  a  violent  opposition  taking  place,  much  loss  was  expe- 
rienced by  both  parties.  Eventually  the  elder  Palmer  purchased  the  shares, 
on  easy  terms,  of  all  his  partners,  as  well  as  the  interest,  by  an  annuity,  of 

R 


122  BATH  ABBEY  CHURCH. 

the  old  house ;  and  the  entire  property  becoming  thus  vested  in  himself,  he 
began  to  consider  of  the  best  means  of  rendering  it  most  beneficial. 

Theatrical  property  at  that  period  was  even  more  precarious,  in  regard 
to  value,  than  at  present ;  and  especially  at  Bath, — for  the  proprietors  of  the 
new  buildings,  which  were  at  a  considerable  distance  from  the  old  city,  were 
already  contemplating  the  erection  of  a  Theatre  in  their  own  neighbourhood. 
To  prevent  this,  Mr.  Palmer  petitioned  Parliament  for  an  Act  to  enable  His 
Majesty  to  grant  him  a  patent;  the  only  patent  houses  at  that  time  being 
those  of  Drury  Lane  and  Covent  Garden,  and  the  King  being  restrained  from 
granting  any  new  patent  without  the  authority  of  the  Legislature.  The  con- 
duct of  this  important  application,  which  was  warmly  supported  by  the  Cor- 
poration of  Bath,  was  entrusted  to  young  Palmer ;  and  after  surmounting 
many  difficulties  by  his  activity  and  energy,  he  succeeded  in  obtaining 
the  Act  solicited,  which  was  passed  in  the  8th  year  of  his  late  Majesty 
George  III.,  who  under  that  authority  immediately  granted  a  patent  for  the 
Bath  Theatre,  whereby  it  obtained  the  rank  and  title  of  a  Theatre  Royal. 
The  talents  displayed  by  young  Palmer,  on  this  occasion,  procured  him  the 
esteem  of  several  distinguished  political  and  theatrical  characters,  whose 
friendship  proved  of  great  service  in  the  subsequent  period  of  his  life*. 

Without  noticing  the  various  undertakings  of  lesser  interest,  in  which 
the  active  nature  of  this  gentleman  engaged  him  at  different  times,  it  must 
suffice  for  the  limited  extent  of  these  pages  to  proceed  to  that  more  than 
Herculean  task,  which  he  both  devised  and  executed  in  the  department  of  the 
General  Post  Office ;  by  establishing  a  complete  system  of  letter  carriage  by 
mail  coaches,  and  in  consequence  a  more  regular  and  punctual  delivery  of 
letters  than  had  ever  been  previously  contemplated. 

The  original  idea  of  this  vast  improvement  is  said  to  have  been  excited  in 
Mr.  Palmer's  mind  by  a  social  conveyance,  in  which  he  was  accustomed  to 
remove  his  theatrical  company  to  and  fro,  between  Bath  and  Bristol,  on  the 
alternate  days  of  performing  in  those  cities ;  and  which  he  frequently  re- 
marked, went  over  the  ground  with  far  greater  speed  than  the  mail  cart. 
Those  remarks  he  subsequently  extended  by  observations  made  during  nume- 
rous journeys  to  every  part  of  the  kingdom ;  undertaken,  originally,  for  the 

The  Bath  Theatre  was  the  first  Theatre  Royal  out  of  the  metropolis.  Whilst  under  Mr. 
Palmer's  direction,  many  persons  made  their  appearance  here,  who  afterwards  became  fhjst-rate 
actors  at  the  London  theatres  ;  as  Edwin,  Henderson,  Mrs.  Siddons,  Mrs.  Crawford,  Miss  Brunton, 
and  others. 


BIOGRAPHICAL  ANECDOTES.  123 

purpose  of  strengthening  his  company  by  recruits  from  the  provincial  theatres  ; 
but  afterwards  pursued  expressly  to  enable  him  to  arrange  and  mature  his 
plans  for  an  effective  change  in  every  branch  of  the  Post  Office. 

On  entering  into  this  arduous  undertaking,  he  obtained  the  acquiescence 
and  support  of  the  late  Mr.  Pitt,  whose  private  secretary,  Dr.  Prettyman, 
afterwards  Bishop  of  Lincoln,  was  the  medium  of  communication  between 
them ;  and  he  stipulated  to  receive  two  and  a  half  per  cent  on  the  future  in- 
creased revenue  of  the  Post  Office  beyond  its  then  net  profits,  if  his  plan  suc- 
ceeded ;  but  if  it  failed,  he  was  not  to  be  paid  a  single  shilling*. 

Let  any  one  who  wishes  to  appreciate  the  talents  requisite  to  ensure 
success  in  a  plan  of  such  vast  magnitude  as  that  projected  by  Mr.  Palmer, 
spread  the  map  of  Great  Britain  before  him  ;  let  him  look  at  the  cities,  towns, 
and  villages,  distributed  upon  its  surface;  and,  finally,  compose  a  system  by 
which  the  mails  shall  quit  each  of  those  different  places  at  different  times, 
and  combine,  or,  as  it  were,  dove-tail  in  with  the  main  routes  of  the  kingdom, 
and  with  such  clock-work  precision,  that  all  shall  arrive  at  the  same  spot 
within  a  few  minutes  of  each  other  j"  !  He  will  then,  and  then  only,  be  able 
to  form  a  correct  estimate  of  the  mental  energies  necessary  for  such  an 
enterprise. 

During  the  prosecution  of  his  scheme,  every  possible  kind  of  difficulty 
was  thrown  in  Mr.  Palmer's  way  by  those  who  were  interested  in  the  con- 
tinuance of  customary  abuses ;  and  every  kind  of  ill  augury  was  objected 
against  him.  Even  the  very  authorities  and  officers  of  the  Post  Office  itself, 
thwarted  and  opposed  his  arrangements  ;  and  nothing  but  the  most  undaunted 
determination  and  active  industry,  could  have  raised  him  superior  to  the 
strong  opposition  he  experienced.  In  the  course  of  these  proceedings  he 
found  it  requisite  to  address  a  strong  explanatory  letter  to  Mr.  Pitt,  who 
evinced  the  full  confidence  which  he  reposed  in  his  plans  by  appointing  him, 
in  July  1789,  Surveyor  and  Comptroller  General  of  the  Post  Office,  with 
an  annual  salary  of  1,500/.  From  that  station,  however,  he  was  suspended 
in  1792,  in  consequence  of  disputes  with  the  Postmaster- General  respecting 

*  Mr.  Palmer  frequently  acknowledged  that  the  contemplation  of  the  capacious  mansion  erected 
in  Prior  Park,  by  Mr.  Allen,  (the  friend  of  Pope  and  Warburton,)  out  of  the  immense  sums 
which  he  received  for  some  improvements  in  the  conveyance  of  the  cross  mails,  (about  half  a 
million  sterling-,)  was  the  grand  stimulus  that  urged  him  to  exertion  and  perseverance. 

t  Vide  "  Gentleman's  Magazine,"  Sept.  1818. 


124  BATH  ABBEY  CHURCH. 

his  deputy  surveyor ;  and  of  other  circumstances  relating  to  the  completion 
of  his  plans,  which,  however,  had  increased  the  revenue  of  his  department 
in  1783  from  159,625/.  to  636,956/.  in  1798.  His  claim  to  a  per  centage 
was  also  disallowed  ;  and  his  remuneration  fixed  at  3,000/.  per  annum. 

Fully  impressed  with  the  justness  of  his  own  cause,  Mr.  Palmer  sought 
that  redress  from  Parliament  which  he  could  not  obtain  from  the  Ministry ; 
but  although  a  Committee,  appointed  by  the  House  of  Commons,  reported 
entirely  in  his  favour,  he  could  not  procure  a  recognition  of  his  claims  till 
May  1808,  when  the  House  resolved,  by  a  majority  of  86,  that  he  was  justly 
entitled  to  two  and  a  half  per  cent  above  the  net  revenue  of  the  Post  Office, 
viz.  240,000/.  from  the  5th  of  April,  1793.  His  compensation  bill,  founded 
on  this  resolution,  was  however  thrown  out  by  the  Lords,  on  the  third 
reading,  by  a  majority  of  six;  but  afterwards  the  ministers  themselves 
brought  in,  and  passed,  an  act,  granting  him  50,000/.  as  a  remuneration  for 
his  services,  independently  of  his  salary  of  3,000/. 

Mr.  Palmer  was  elected  Mayor  of  Bath,  in  1796 ;  and  he  twice  repre- 
sented that  city  in  Parliament.  One  of  his  latest  employments  was  to  rebuild 
the  Bath  Theatre  upon  the  site  which  it  now  occupies.  He  died  at  Brighton, 
on  the  16th  of  August,  1818,  in  the  76th  year  of  his  age.  His  remains 
were  conveyed  to  his  native  city  and  interred  in  the  Abbey  Church,  the  Mayor 
and  Corporation  attending  the  funeral.     A  monument  is  preparing  for  him. 


Thomas  Haweis,  LL.D.  and  M.D.,  (ob.  1820,)  was  born  in  1734,  at 
Truro,  in  Cornwall.  He  received  his  early  education  at  the  Grammar  School 
in  that  town ;  and  being  intended  for  the  medical  profession,  was  afterwards 
placed  in  the  shop  of  a  respectable  surgeon  and  apothecary  there.  Having 
contracted  an  intimate  friendship  with  a  popular  dissenting  preacher,  whose 
discourses  he  was  accustomed  to  attend,  he  determined  to  alter  his  pursuits 
and  to  enter  the  ministry.  With  some  difficulty,  he  procured  the  means  of 
proceeding  to  the  University  of  Cambridge,  where  he  became  a  student  at 
Christ's  College ;  and  having  regularly  proceeded  in  arts,  he  was  advanced 
to  the  degree  ofLL.B.  in  1772.  Some  years  previously  to  that  date,  how- 
ever, he  had  distinguished  himself  by  his  preaching ;  and  soon  after  taking- 
holy  orders,  had  been  made  assistant  chaplain  to  the  Rev.  Martin  Madan, 
(the  far-famed  author  of  "  Thelyphthora")  at  the  Lock  Hospital,  near  Hyde 
Park  Corner.     In  February  1764,  he  was  presented,  for  a  limited  time,  to  the 


BIOGRAPHICAL  ANECDOTES.  125 

Rectory  of  Aldwinckle  All  Saints,  in  Northamptonshire ;  and  he  continued 
to  possess  that  living  until  his  decease.  The  circumstances  under  which  the 
presentation  was  made  occasioned  a  great  ferment  in  the  religious  world  of 
that  era,  as  it  was  supposed  to  be  not  unconnected  with  simony,  the  advowson 
being  worth  1200/.,  and  the  living  within  a  few  days  of  a  lapse*.  The 
religious  tenets  of  Dr.  Haweis  were  those  which  are  popularly  termed  evan- 
gelical ;  and  those  opinions,  with  the  attractions  of  his  oratory,  introduced 
him  to  the  acquaintance  and  esteem  of  the  venerable  Selina,  Countess  of 
Huntingdon,  who  appointed  him  her  chaplain.  She  likewise  entrusted  him 
with  the  general  distribution  of  her  extensive  charities ;  and  upon  her  decease, 
made  him  her  principal  trustee,  thus  confiding  to  him  the  management  of  the 
numerous  chapels  which  she  had  founded,  as  well  as  other  concerns  of  great 
value  and  importance.  His  attention  was  not  exclusively  fixed  on  the  cure 
of  souls,  for  meeting  with  many  cases  of  sickness  in  the  course  of  his  minis- 
tration, his  humanity  prompted  him  to  take  the  degree  of  M.D.,  for  which  he 
was  well  qualified  by  the  studies  of  his  youth ;  and  his  advice  was  always 
given  gratuitously.  His  memory  will  be  long  revered,  not  only  from  his 
active  virtues  when  living,  but  also  from  his  having  been  the  founder  of 
the  London  Missionary  Society,  and  the  Father  of  the  Missions  to  the  South 
Sea  Islands.  He  died  at  his  house,  in  Beaufort  Buildings,  Bath,  on  the  11th 
of  February,  1820,  in  the  86th  year  of  his  age;  and  was  interred  in  the 
Abbey  Church,  where  a  small  tablet  has  been  inscribed  to  his  memory.  His 
writings  were  numerous,  but  altogether  confined  to  religious  subjects.  His 
principal  works  are  the  "  Evangelical  Expositor,"  2  vols.  fol. ;  a  "  Transla- 
tion of  the  New  Testament  from  the  Greek;"  a  "  Life  of  the  Rev.  Wm. 
Romaine ;"  an  "  Impartial  and  Succinct  History,  &c.  of  the  Church  of 
Christ ;"  and  a  "  View  of  the  State  of  Evangelical  Religion  throughout  the 
World,  in  1812." 


William  Meyler.  Ob.  1821.— The  name  of  Meyler  must  be  familiar  to 
every  literary  and  scientific  person,  who  has  had  any  intercourse  with  Bath 
during  the  last  forty  years;    William  Meyler,  the  subject  of  this  memoir,  first 

*  Several  controversial  tracts  on  the  occasion  were  written  by  Haweis  and  Madan,  all  of  which 
-were  epitomised  in  the  "  Gentleman's  Magazine"  for  1767.  The  late  erudite  critic,  Jeremiah 
Markland,  speaking  of  the  transaction  in  a  letter  quoted  in  "  Literary  Anecdotes,"  vol.  iv.  p.  347, 
sayS  —  «  In  my  paper  it  has  a  most  shocking  and  odious  look  against  those  Methodists." 


126  BATH  ABBEY  CHURCH. 

settled  in  that  city  in  the  year  1767,  and  progressively  advanced  himself  by 
assiduity,  talents,  and  worth,  from  the  state  of  an  apprentice  to  a  bookseller 
and  binder,  to  be  the  editor  and  proprietor  of  a  respectable  periodical  news- 
paper, an  alderman  of  the  city,  and  a  man,  whose  company  and  friendship 
were  coveted  by  the  most  eminent  and  distinguished  characters  of  Bath  and 
its  vicinity.  He  was  born  atNewburg,  in  the  Isle  of  Anglesea,  Dec.  13,  1755, 
and  sent,  when  nine  years  of  age,  to  school  at  Marlbro',  in  Wiltshire,  where 
his  uncle,  the  Rev.  Thomas  Meyler,  was  Master  of  the  Free-Grammar  School. 
Though  previously  unacquainted  with  any  other  language  than  his  native 
Welsh,  he  so  rapidly  improved  in  classical  and  commercial  knowledge,  that  it 
was  determined  he  should  make  choice  of  a  profession  when  only  in  his 
twelfth  year.  He  was  accordingly  apprenticed  to  a  bookseller  in  this  city ; 
but  instead  of  being  permitted  to  read  the  works,  as  he  had  fondly  expected, 
which  furnished  his  master's  shelves,  he  was  almost  incessantly  engaged  in 
the  labour  of  binding ;  and  "■  no  crime  could  be  greater,  in  the  opinion  of  his 
austere  employer,  than  to  suffer  his  eyes  to  wander  over  the  leaves  of  a  book, 
while  his  hands  ought  to  have  been  active  in  adorning  its  covers." 

In  1781,  he  commenced  business  for  himself  in  the  Grove,  where  his 
talents  and  social  disposition  quickly  drew  around  him  a  numerous  ac- 
quaintance ;  some  of  whom,  the  Dandies  of  the  day,  wishing  to  profit  in 
fame  by  his  facility  of  versification,  induced  him  to  supply  pieces  for  Lady 
Miller's  poetical  Vase  at  Bath  Easton ;  and  his  pulse  has  often  "  beat  with 
delight  at  the  praise  bestowed  upon  his  compositions,"  although  the  reputa- 
tion devolved  upon  some  fashionable  popptnjay, 

"  Who  never  wrote  except  upon  a  card." 

He  had  also  the  frequent  satisfaction  of  obtaining  the  "  myrtle  wreath"  for 
his  own  avowed  productions,  and  the  still  greater  pleasure  of  acquiring  by 
that  means  the  friendship  of  Anstey  and  Graves,  with  whom  he  remained  in 
strict  intimacy  till  the  times  of  their  respective  decease;  and  he  has  per- 
petuated his  regard  and  admiration  for  them  by  an  elegant  monody,  in  which 
he  has  given  excellent  imitations  of  their  different  styles  of  poetry. 

On  the  3d  of  March,  1792,  the  first  number  of  the  "  Bath  Herald"  was 
published,  of  which  Mr.  Meyler  became  the  editor ;  and  on  the  same  day 
the  "  Bath  Register"  appeared.  For  a  short  period  these  newspapers  were 
carried  on  in  opposition  to  each  other,  and  no  common  degree  of  acrimony 


BIOGRAPHICAL  ANECDOTES.  127 

was  excited,  by  the  following  pointed  epigram,  which  our  editor  composed  for 
his  own  paper : — 

If  a  story  you'd  wish  to  be  spread  the  Town  round, 
Go  tell  it  to  Blab  as  a  secret  profound  : 
But  if  'tis  a  secret  you'd  hush  ev'ry  word  of, 
Let  the  Register  print  it ; — 'twill  never  be  heard  of. 

A  coalition  was  afterwards  formed  between  the  two  papers ;  but  the  pro- 
prietors by  that  union  becoming  too  numerous,  and  the  expenditure  exceeding 
the  receipts,  the  whole  property,  in  June  1795,  was  made  over  to  Mr. 
Meyler,  who  progressively  rendered  the  Bath  Herald  one  of  the  most  distin- 
guished literary  papers  upon  record. 

The  activity  and  talents  of  this  gentleman  were  so  well  appreciated  by 
his  fellow-citizens,  that,  in  1801,  they  elected  him  amember  of  the  Common 
Council,  and  his  opinions  on  municipal  affairs  had  considerable  weight  in  the 
chamber  of  Bath.  He  likewise  acquired  much  influence  as  a  Free  Mason ; 
and  "  the  brethren  of  the  craft  acknowledged,  that  in  all  the  points  which 
constitute  a  good  mason,  he  was  pre-eminently  excellent:"  for  several  years 
he  was  Deputy  Provincial  Grand-Master  for  the  county,  the  business  of  which 
honourable  office  he  transacted  with  assiduity  and  intelligence. 

In  1806  Mr.  Meyler  published  an  octavo  volume,  under  the  title  of 
"  Poetical  Amusements  on  the  Journey  of  Life,"  which  his  Royal  Highness 
the  Prince  of  Wales,  (his  present  Majesty,)  from  respect  to  his  character 
and  abilities,  requested  might  be  dedicated  to  himself.  Many  pieces  in  that 
volume  are  highly  poetical,  and  written  with  much  beauty  and  great  felicity 
of  expression.  His  prologues,  and  other  theatrical  addresses,  abound  with 
genuine  point,  and  apt  and  appropriate  allusions.  The  drama,  indeed,  was 
his  favourite  amusement ;  and  he  once  performed  Richard  III.  for  the  benefit 
of  a  charity  at  Bath,  in  such  a  respectable  and  chastened  style  of  acting, 
that  it  was  thought  the  highest  walks  of  the  stage  would  have  been  within 
the  scope  of  his  powers,  had  he  adopted  it  as  a  profession. 

Mr.  Meyler's  general  urbanity  and  suavity  of  manners  was  unvaried ;  his 
kindness  to,  and  solicitude  for,  the  welfare  of  every  new  candidate  for 
histrionic  or  literary  honours,  were  displayed  on  many  occasions ;  and  the 
writer  of  this  slight  sketch  of  his  memoirs  can  testify  this  in  his  own  behalf ; 
as  well  as  for  several  persons,  whom  he  has  known  in  his  intercourse  with 
Bath. 


128  BATH  ABBEY  CHURCH. 

Although  greatly  afflicted  with  the  gout  during  the  last  years  of  his  useful 
life,  his  mental  activity,  colloquial  address,  and  social  amenities,  remained 
unsubdued.  When  confined  even  to  his  chamber  by  lameness,  his  society  was 
courted  by  the  most  eminent  literary  characters  that  either  resided  in,  or 
visited  this  city;  among  these  were  Drs.  Harington  and  Valpy,  Mr.  Pratt, 
Mr.  Bowles,  Mr.  Kemble,  and  Mrs.  Siddons,  the  first  of  whom,  who  had 
been  blind  for  a  long  time  previously  to  his  decease,  passed  several  hours  with 
him  daily,  in  cheerful  and  familiar  converse;  and  on  those  occasions  they 
eminently  enjoyed  the  "  feast  of  reason  and  the  flow  of  soul."  Mr.  Meyler 
died  on  the  10th  of  March,  1821,  and  was  buried  on  the  Saturday  following 
in  the  Abbey  Church. 


Josiah  Thomas,  A.M.,  Archdeacon  of  Bath,  who  died  in  1822,  is  com- 
memorated by  a  handsome  monument,  executed  by  Gahagan,  and  erected  in 
this  Church,  by  some  private  friends  as  a  tribute  of  respect.  When  young, 
he  published  a  poem  called  "  The  Curate,"  which  was  considered  to  possess 
great  merit ;  indeed,  but  few  persons  were  better  judges  of  poetry  than 
himself,  although  his  subsequent  compositions  were  limited  to  small  pieces, 
written  for  the  indulgence  of  a  friendly  circle.  He  had  a  strong  and  well- 
cultivated  mind,  and  was  well-versed  in  the  different  theories  of  religion,  of 
which  his  "  Controversy"  with  the  Bishop  of  Gloucester,  now  Bishop  of 
Lichfield  and  Coventry,  his  "  Strictures  on  subjects  chiefly  relating  to  the 
Established  Religion  and  the  Clergy,"  in  two  letters  addressed  to  his  patron, 
Lord  Bath,  published  in  1809 ;  and  his  "  Remarks  on  some  Popular  Prin- 
ciples and  Notions,"  addressed  to  his  Royal  Highness  the  Prince  Regent, 
in  1813,  may  be  referred  to  as  evidence.  He  had  a  thorough  knowledge  of 
the  English  language,  and  both  in  speaking  and  writing  his  own  was  energetic 
and  nervous.  On  his  monument,  which  exhibits  a  figure  of  Truth,  with 
symbols  appropriate  to  Christianity,  is  this  inscription : 

Josi-e  Thomas,  A.M., 

Archidiacono  Bathoniensi, 

Regiae  Majestati  a  Sacris, 

Desiderii  ac  Reverentiae  Caussa, 

FecSre  Complores. 

Anno  Sacro  M.D.CCC.XXII. 


BIOGRAPHICAL  ANECDOTES.  129 

Caleb  Hillier  Parry,  M.D.,  (ob.  1822,)  born  at  Cirencester,  Glouces- 
tershire, Oct.  21,  1755,  was  descended  from  an  ancient  family  in  Pembrokeshire, 
an  elder  branch  of  which  still  retains  the  hereditary  estates  of  Penderry  and 
Portclew.  His  father,  the  Rev.  Joshua  Parry,  a  dissenting  minister,  was 
distinguished  for  his  talents  and  loyalty,  and  was  the  intimate  friend  and 
constant  correspondent  of  the  first  Earl  Bathurst,  and  of  many  other  eminent 
men ;  among  whom  may  be  named  Doddridge,  Amory,  Chandler,  Hawkes- 
worth,  James,  Urmston,  Whitsted,  Kippis,  T.  Scott,  Dean  Tucker,  &c.  He 
was  an  excellent  classical,  Welsh,  and  Hebrew  scholar.  A  volume  of  his 
Sermons,  and  a  detached  Sermon  against  Popery,  evince  the  purity  and 
perspicuity  of  his  style,  and  the  excellence  of  his  moral  and  religious  prin- 
ciples. He  was  an  admired  contributor  to  various  periodical  publications ; 
and, —  as  we  learn  from  Hawkins,  in  his  Life  of  Dr.  Johnson, — one  of  the 
original  writers  in  the  "  Gentleman's  Magazine."  This  highly  respected 
man  died  at  Cirencester,  in  the  year  1776,  aged  57,  being  then  engaged, 
by  the  desire,  and  with  the  assistance,  of  the  Lord  Chancellor  Bathurst,  in 
writing  the  biography  of  his  Lordship's  father. 

Dr.  Parry  was  the  eldest  of  three  sons  and  seven  daughters,  the  only 
survivor  of  whom  is  the  present  Lady  Hobhouse.  His  mother  inherited 
from  Mr.  Caleb  Hillier,  her  father,  the  estates  of  Upcott  and  Minety,  in 
Gloucestershire,  which  descended  to  the  subject  of  the  present  memoir. 
Young  Parry  received  the  rudiments  of  his  education  at  the  Rev.  Mr.  Wash- 
bourn's  School,  at  Cirencester,  and  in  1770  was  placed  at  the  Academy  of 
Warrington,  Lancashire,  where  he  continued  till  1773,  in  which  year  he 
commenced  his  studies  at  Edinburgh.  In  the  summer  of  1775,  he  visited 
London,  and  resided  for  two  years  with  the  late  Dr.  Denman.  He  returned 
to  Edinburgh  in  1777,  and  graduated  in  the  month  of  June  in  the  following 
year.  As  President,  he  was  chiefly  instrumental  in  procuring  a  royal  charter 
for  the  Medical  Society,  then  recently  instituted  in  that  city. 

In  1778,  Dr.  Parry  was  united  to  Miss  Rigby,  with  whom  he  had  formed 
an  early  attachment  at  Warrington*.  Soon  after  the  solemnization  of  this 
event,   he  proceeded  to  the  Continent,    and   after  having  visited  Holland, 

*  This  lady,  the  daughter  of  John  Rigby,  Esq.,  of  Manchester,  was  no  less  celebrated  for  her 
beauty  than  for  her  amiable  disposition  and  engaging  manners.  The  friendship  and  admiration 
of  Mrs.  Barbauld  dedicated  to  her  young  friend  several  of  the  beautiful  Poems  which  she  was 
then  publishing.      The  exquisite  lines  addressed   "  to  Miss  R.,  when  attending  her  mother  at 


130  BATH  ABBEY  CHURCH. 

Flanders,  and  France,  he  took  up  his  final  residence  at  Bath,  in  Nov.  1779, 
and  scarcely  quitted  that  city  for  a  day  during  the  remaining  career  of  his 
valuable  and  useful  life. 

Within  a  short  period  after  his  settlement  at  Bath,  Dr.  Parry  assumed 
a  high  and  commanding  station,  social  as  well  as  professional.  He  became 
much  distinguished  by  his  extensive  and  enlightened  practice,  by  the  humanity 
of  his  character,  and  by  the  publication  of  numerous  medical  writings.  Before 
his  last  illness,  he  was  engaged  in  a  comprehensive  work,  the  result  of  his 
long  experience,  which  one  or  two  years  more  would  have  enabled  him  to 
arrange  and  complete ;  the  materials  of  which  were,  however,  left  in  so 
unconnected  and  imperfect  a  state,  as  hitherto  to  have  prevented  their  publi- 
cation. An  Epitome  of  the  Pathological  part  of  this  intended  system  was 
fortunately  committed  to  the  press  in  1815 ;  and  perhaps  even  in  its 
unfinished  state,  no  medical  work  of  the  age  has  excited  greater  interest 
than  the  first  volume  of  his  "  Elements  of  Pathology  and  Therapeutics." 

But,  to  the  public,  Dr.  Parry  was  for  many  years  even  more  allied  by 
the  variety  of  his  other  accomplishments  and  pursuits  than  by  those  of  his 
immediate  profession.  It  would  not,  indeed,  be  easy  to  adduce  an  instance 
of  higher  endowments,  whether  we  look  for  the  resources  and  refinements  of 
ordinary  society,  or  the  more  profound  attainments  of  intellectual  and 
cultivated  life.  His  intimate  acquaintance  with  the  arts  of  music,  poetry,  and 
painting,  from  each  and  all  of  which  he  derived  an  intense  pleasure,  will  be 
readily  acknowledged  by  those  who  knew  him,  and  who  are  themselves  com- 
petent judges  in  these  matters.  His  familiar  connexion  with  many  naval  and 
military  persons  of  renown,  had  made  him  remarkably  conversant  with  the 
subjects  and  details  of  their  professions  ;  while  his  accurate  knowledge  of  the 
history  and  politics  of  his  own  and  other  countries,  had  rendered  him  the 
esteemed  friend  and  correspondent  of  Burke  and  Windham.  His  insight  into 
our  foreign  commercial  relations,  is  evinced  by  a  series  of  Letters,  anony- 
mously published  in  the  "  Sun,"  on  the  importance  of  our  South  American 
trade,  particularly  that  of  the  colonies  of  Demerara,  Essequibo,  and  Berbice. 

How  deeply  he  was  versed  in  the  theory  and  practice  of  Gardening  and 


Buxton,"  sufficiently  exhibit  the  character  and  merits  of  the  present  Mrs.  Parry.  Her  mother, 
the  daughter  of  Dr.  Taylor,  the  Hebraist,  whose  numerous  works,  and  whose  portrait  by  Houbraken, 
are  well  known,  had  been  celebrated  by  the  same  muse,  which  was  again  eloquent  on  occasion  of 
the  marriage  of  her  favourite  acquaintance. 


BIOGRAPHICAL  ANECDOTES.  131 

Agriculture,  to  which,  as  an  amusement  and  relaxation,  he  devoted  much 
of  his  leisure,  is  indisputably  proved  by  his  various  writings  in  the  "  Trans- 
actions of  the  Board  of  Agriculture,"  those  of  the  "  Bath  Society,"  by  his 
Letters  in  the  "  Fanner's  Journal,"  by  his  "  Essay  on  Merino  Sheep,"  and 
by  a  voluminous  correspondence,  kept  up  for  twenty  years  with  his  particular 
friends,  Lord  Somerville,  Sir  Joseph  Banks,  and  the  principal  agriculturists 
of  the  kingdom, — men,  who  in  their  enthusiastic  efforts  to  promote  the 
internal  prosperity  of  their  country,  kept  pace  with  the  spirit,  which, 
through  a  series  of  dark  years,  conducted  to  a  glorious  event,  an  almost 
overwhelming  but  protective  state  of  warfare.  From  his  attachment  to 
subjects  of  rural  economy,  Dr.  Parry  was  particularly  honoured  by  the 
condescending  kindness  and  notice  of  his  late  Majesty.  He  was  not  less 
familiar  with  the  facts  and  deductions  of  Natural  Philosophy  and  Natural 
History,  respecting  which  he  had  frequent  communication,  as  well  with  his 
old  and  highly  valued  friends,  Sir  William  Herschel  and  Dr.  Jenner,  as  with 
many  other  celebrated  characters,  to  whom  his  talents  and  his  connexion  as 
a  member  of  the  Royal,  and  various  other  Societies,  abroad  and  at  home, 
gave  him  ready  access. 

Dr.  Parry  had  made  extensive  collections  of  Organic  Remains  and  Mine- 
ralogical  Specimens.  Whilst  the  sciences  to  which  these  related  were  yet 
in  their  infancy,  he  had  collected  materials,  which,  with  leisure,  would  have 
grown  into  volumes,  and  have  formed  very  important  records  in  those  delight- 
ful and  interesting  departments  of  inquiry.  In  1781,  he  published  "  Pro- 
posals for  a  History  of  the  Fossils  of  Gloucestershire,"  which  was  intended 
to  include  all  that  was  known  on  the  subject  of  Organic  Remains,  and  the 
result  of  many  experiments  and  observations,  in  which  he  had  been  long  and 
ardently  engaged.  His  increasing  vocations  would  never  allow  the  completion 
of  this  work. 

Dr.  Parry  was  an  indefatigable  reader.  His  acquaintance  with  books  was 
not,  however,  confined  to  an  elementary  and  critical  examination.  From 
them  he  either  sought  the  higher  gratifications  of  his  mental  faculties,  or  the 
elucidation  and  extension  of  practical  points,  whether  of  moral  or  of  physical 
interest. 

He  was  an  admirable  metaphysician,  and  few  men  possessed  a  more 
sound  or  discriminating  judgment.  With  a  certain  severity  of  character, 
was  united  a  playfulness,  which,  (while  through  life,  it  had  invigorated  and 
charmed  his  domestic  circle,)  scarcely  deserted  him  under  the  severest  trials, 


132  BATH  ABBEY  CHURCH. 

and  amidst  the  heaviest  afflictions.  His  miscellaneous  reading,  extensive 
knowledge  of  men  and  manners,  and  an  excellent  memory,  supplied,  in  his 
intercourse  with  society,  a  constant  fund  of  anecdote  and  quotation,  embracing 
the  most  abstruse  matters  of  discussion,  and  the  most  familiar  and  apposite 
illustrations  of  wit  and  narrative.  Dr.  Parry  was  a  sincere  believer  in  Chris- 
tianity, an  excellent  husband,  father,  and  friend,  devoted  to  his  King,  and 
firmly  attached  to  the  constitution  of  his  country.  Of  four  sons  and  five 
daughters,  two  of  the  former  and  four  of  the  latter  survive  their  honoured 
parent. 

His  second  son,  George  Frederic,  died  at  the  age  of  twenty-one,  in  the 
year  1804,  having  distinguished  himself  on  the  continent,  where  he  had 
resided  for  several  years,  by  his  zeal  in  the  pursuit  of  several  objects  of 
natural  science.     He  was  buried  in  the  Abbey  Church. 

George  Brydges  Rodney,  his  third  son,  died  an  infant,  in  1786,  and 
was  buried  in  the  parish  church  of  Walcot*.  Elizabeth  Emma,  his  fourth 
daughter,  wife  of  John  Eardley  Wilmot,  of  Berkswell,  in  the  county  of 
Warwick,  Esq.,  died  in  childbed  of  twins,  her  seventh  and  eighth  children, 
in  the  year  1818.  She  was  interred  in  the  parish  church  of  Berkswell.  Of 
Dr.  Parry's  surviving  children,  it  is  sufficient  to  name,  in  this  place,  his 
youngest  son,  Captain  William  Edward  Parry,  R.N.f  Dr.  Parry  died  at  his 
house  in  Sion  Place,  Bath,  on  the  9th  of  March,  1822,  after  a  series  of  com- 


*  In  the  burial-ground  of  that  church  are  also  deposited  the  remains  of  Caroline  Mary,  the 
infant  daughter  of  his  eldest  son,  who  died  Sept.  25,  1824. 

■f  The  name  of  this  distinguished  and  enterprising  officer  naturally  awakens  mingled  emotions 
of  pleasure  and  apprehension ; — of  gratitude  for  the  past,  and  anxiety  for  the  future.  Such  a 
parent,  friend,  and  guide,  as  we  have  seen  described,  was  calculated  to  inspire  and  instruct  an 
ardent  youth ;  and  from  this  example  and  incentive  has  sprang  the  gallant  and  persevering 
officer,  whose  Arctic  discoveries,  and  whose  scientific  journals,  have  at  once  aroused  national 
curiosity,  and  afforded  gratification  to  a  large  portion  of  the  reading  community.  Captain 
Parry  is  now,  for  the  third  time,  traversing  the  Northern  seas  ;  and  it  is  ardently  hoped  will  return 
to  his  native  country  and  friends,  stored  with  novel  and  useful  information.  A  Memoir  and 
Portrait  of  this  enterprising  officer,  were  given  in  the  "  European  Magazine,"  for  May  1821. 

Of  his  elder  Brother,  now  residing  at  Bath,  following  the  profession,  and  emulating  the 
noble  example  of  his  father,  it  would  be  easy  and  delightful  to  speak  in  terms  of  sincere  appro- 
bation— to  notice  his  urbanity  of  manners,  intellectual  attainments,  and  zealous  search  after 
knowledge ;  but  as  the  feelings  of  the  heart  might  be  misunderstood  and  misinterpreted  by  some, 
or  considered  as  inconsistent  with  the  customs  of  polished  society  by  others,  forbearance,  on  this 
occasion,  seems  to  be  the  most  prudent  course. 


BIOGRAPHICAL  ANECDOTES.  133 

plicated  disease  and  suffering,  arising  from  a  paralytic  seizure  with  which 
he  was  afflicted  in  1816.  No  one  in  his  sphere  died  more  regretted  than 
the  subject  of  this  short  memoir.  Many  of  his  personal  friends,  and  a 
numerous  assemblage  of  his  professional  brethren,  at  their  own  particular 
request,  followed  his  remains  to  the  grave.  The  latter  caused  a  handsome 
monument  to  be  erected  to  his  memory  *.  However  expressly  he  may  have 
himself  directed  that  his  interment  should  be  conducted  with  privacy,  the 
proffered  marks  of  respect  could  not,  on  such  an  occasion,  be  decently  re- 
jected ;  while,  at  the  same  time,  this  unsought  evidence  of  the  attachment  of 
those  with  whom  he  had  acted  in  public  and  private  life,  necessarily  afforded 
his  family  a  high  degree  of  grateful  satisfaction. 

Besides  this  public  record  of  esteem,  a  marble  slab  was  laid  over  the 
place  of  his  interment  by  his  widow  and  children.  It  bears  inscribed  some 
lines,  by  an  unknown  writer,  which  appeared  characteristic  of  the  situation 
and  circumstances  of  this  much  lamented  husband,  parent,  and  friend,  and 
were  therefore  adopted  by  his  relatives. 

Underneath 

Are  deposited  the  remains  of 

Caleb  Hilliek,  Parky,  M.D.,  F.R.S.,  &c. 

Who,  after  a  painful  and  complicated  illness 

Of  nearly  six  years, 

Which  he  bore  with  exemplary  resignation, 

Quitted  this  mortal  scene,  March  9,  1822, 

Aged  66  years. 

The  esteem  of  his  professional  brethren 

Has,  on  a  monument  in  the  Choir  of  this  Church, 

Recorded  some  of  his  virtues ; 

The  love  and  regret  of  his  Widow  and 

Six  surviving  Children 

Place  this  Stone  to  his  Memory. 

"  Thou  silent  Door  of  our  sepulchral  sleep ! 
Sickness  and  pain,  debility  and  woes, 
All  the  dire  train  of  ills  Existence  knows, 
Thou  shuttest  out  for  ever !    Why  then  weep 
This  fixed  tranquillity,  so  long,  so  deep, 


See  pp.  80,  81,  for  the  inscription. 


134  BATH  ABBEY  CHURCH. 

For  a  dear    <  \  faded  form,  where  rose 

i  Father's      3 

No  energy  enlivening  health  bestows, 

Through  many  a  tedious  year  that  used  to  creep 

In  languid  deprivation,  while  the  Flame 

Of  Intellect,  resplendent  once  confessed, 

Dark  and  more  Dark  each  passing  day  became  ! 

Now  that  Angelic  lights  the  Soul  invest, 

Calm  let  us  yield  to  thee  a  joyless  Frame, 

Thou  Silent  Door  of  everlasting  Rest !" 


Don  Francisco  Antonio  Zea.  Ob.  1823.— This  gentleman,  a  native 
of  Antioquia,  in  South  America,  Came  to  England  in  the  spring  of  1822, 
as  Plenipotentiary  of  the  Republic  of  Colombia,  of  which  he  was  Vice-Pre- 
sident. Previously  to  his  departure  for  Europe,  he  laid  before  Congress  the 
project  for  the  constitution  of  his  country,  which  Was  afterwards  adopted 
in  all  its  leading  particulars.  He  had  fought  by  the  side  of  the  liberator 
Bolivar,  and  was  the  constant  associate  of  that  brave  and  patriotic  chieftain 
for  many  years,  until  his  mission  to  Europe,  (in  1820,)  where  much  of  his 
life  had  been  spent.  Before  the  South  American  revolution,  he  held  at  dif- 
ferent times  several  offices  under  the  Spanish  government.  He  died  at  the 
York  House,  Bath,  November  the  28th,  1823,  aged  fifty-one  years ;  and 
his  remains  were  interred  in  the  Abbey  Church. 


The  accounts  of  the  following  persons,  who  Were  interred  in  this  Church, 
having  been  omitted  in  their  chronological  order,  are  introduced  in  this 
place : — 

John  Pelling,  B.D.  Ob.  1620. — Guidott,  in  his  "  Treatises,"  relating 
to  Bath,  speaking  of  Bishop  Montague's  monument  in  the  Abbey  Church, 
has  the  following  passage : — "  Over  against  this  noble  monument,  the  City, 
in  Testimony  of  the  Respects  they  owed  to  the  then  Rector,  Mr.  John 
Pelling,  erected  another  to  him.  This  Reverend  Divine,  notwithstanding 
he  had  a  numerous  Issue,  yet  was  so  indefatigably  zealous  in  forwarding 
the  Reparation  of  this  Fabrick,  that,  when  at  any  time  (and  that  was  not 


BIOGRAPHICAL  ANECDOTES.  135 

seldom  in  that  generous  and  benefactory  Age)  any  Persons  of  Honour  offered 
to  him,  as  to  his  private,  he  refused  it  with  his  'Non  Mihi,  sed  Eccksia,'  which 
occasioned  that  Motto  over  his  Tomb,  which  Self-denial  (it's  possible)  the 
good  God  has  secondarily  paid  into  his  own  Bosom  by  a  Blessing  on  his 
Posterity,  who,  some  of  them  especially,  notwithstanding  the  few  Mites  they 
had  to  begin  the  World,  have  now  the  Value  of  Talents  in  their  possession." 

According  to  Wood,  Mr.  Pelling  was  «  a  Minister's  son,  of  Wilts;  and 
published  a  Sermon  on  the  Providence  of  God,  in  1607;  and  perhaps  other 
things."  He  was  educated  at  Magdalen  College,  Oxford,  where,  in  1583, 
he  proceeded  in  arts,  and  in  1597,  took  the  degree  of  B.D.  He  was  Rector 
of  Bath  thirty  years,  as  appears  by  his  epitaph,  and  died  in  February  1620. 
He  is  represented  by  a  three  quarter  figure  placed  within  a  niche  against  the 
north  wall  of  this  Church. 


Joseph  Glanvill,  (ob.  1684,)  Chaplain  to  Charles  the  Second,  and  for 
several  years  Rector  of  Bath  Abbey  Church,  distinguished  himself  as  an 
author,  by  writing  on  Witchcraft,  the  supernatural  agency  of  evil  spirits,  and 
other  similar  subjects,  then  popular,  but  now  exploded.     He  was  the  son  of 
a  merchant  at  Plymouth,  where  he  was  born,  in  1636 ;  and  after  being  edu- 
cated at  Oxford,  took  the  degree  of  M.A.  in  1658.     Having  assumed  the 
priestly  office,  he  became  chaplain  to  Francis  Rous,  who  had  been  made 
Provost  of  Eton  College,  by  Oliver  Cromwell.     But  Rous  dying  shortly  after, 
he  returned  to  the  University,  and  pursued  his  studies  till  the  Restoration. 
On  the  re-establishment  of  the  church  of  England,  Mr.  Glanvill  was  regularly 
ordained,  and  became  Rector   of  Winbush,  in  Essex;  and  in  November 
1662,  he  was  presented   to  the  living  of  Frome   Selwood,   by   Sir  James 
Thynne.     In  1664  he  was  elected  a  Fellow  of  the  Royal  Society.     He  had 
previously  written  in  defence  of  experimental  philosophy,  against  those  who 
adhered  to  the  doctrines  of  Aristotle  and  the  Schoolmen ;  and  his  literary 
labours  are  said  to  have  procured  him  many  friends  among  the  cultivators 
of  physical  science,  through  whose  interest  he  obtained  the  Rectory  of  the 
Abbey  Church  at  Bath,  to  which  he  was  inducted  in  June  1666.     He  then 
resided  in  that  city,  where  he  continued  the  remainder  of  his  life.     In  1672 
he  was  made  Chaplain  in  Ordinary  to  his  Majesty.     His  other  preferments 
in  the  church  were  a  Prebend  in  Worcester  Cathedral,  procured  for  him  by 


136  BATH  ABBEY  CHURCH. 

the  Marquess  of  Worcester,  to  whom  his  wife  was  related ;  and  the  Rectory 
of  Street,  near  Glastonbury,  for  which  he  exchanged  his  Vicarage  of  Frome. 

Mr.  Glanvill  died  at  his  house  in  Bath,  November  4,  1680 ;  and  was 
buried  in  the  north  aile  of  the  Abbey  Church,  on  the  9th  of  the  same  month. 
A  monument,  with  an  inscription  to  his  memory,  was  erected  by  his  widow, 
Margaret,  of  the  family  of  the  Selwins,  of  Gloucestershire.  He  was  twice 
married,  but  had  no  children  by  either  of  his  consorts. 

The  writings  of  Glanvill  consist  of  three  papers  in  the  Philosophical 
Transactions ;  a  Treatise  on  "  Witches  and  Witchcraft,"  occasioned  by  the 
disturbances  in  the  house  of  Mr.  Mompesson,  of  Tidworth,  in  Wiltshire, 
which  gave  rise  to  Addison's  Comedy  of  the  "  Drummer,  or  the  Haunted 
House;"  "  an  Essay  concerning  Preaching;"  "  Sermons;"  and  controversial 
tracts.  His  chief  literary  opponents  were  the  Rev.  Robert  Crosse,  Vicar  of 
Chew  Magna,  Somersetshire;  and  Henry  Stubbe,  a  physician,  occasionally 
residing  at  Bath. 

Henry  Stubbe,  (ob.  1676,)  was  a  physician  and  public  writer  of  consi- 
derable eminence  in  the  seventeenth  century.  He  was  born  in  Lincolnshire, 
in  1631,  and  educated  first  at  Westminster  School,  and  afterwards  at  Oxford. 
In  1657  he  was  made  second  keeper  of  the  Bodleian  Library,  under  Dr.  Barlow. 
He  then  obtained  the  patronage  of  Sir  Henry  Vane,  in  whose  behalf  he  em- 
ployed his  pen.  He  likewise  wrote  in  favour  of  the  tenets  of  the  Quakers ; 
but  after  the  Restoration  he  conformed  to  the  Church  of  England  ;  and  having 
lost  his  situation  in  the  University,  adopted  the  medical  profession.  In  1661 
he  went  to  Jamaica,  with  the  title  of  his.  Majesty's  Physician  for  that 
island.  Returning  soon  after,  he  settled  as  a  medical  practitioner  at  Strat- 
ford upon  Avon ;  whence  he  removed  to  Warwick,  where  he  obtained  consi- 
derable practice,  as  he  also  did  at  Bath,  which  he  made  the  place  of  his 
residence  during  the  summer  season. 

Stubbe  seems  to  have  been  a  man  of  unsettled  principles,  and  of  a  very 
restless  disposition,  which  led  him  to  engage  in  many  literary  controversies. 
He  wrote  against  Dr.  Wallis  in  support  of  Hobbes ;  but  he  distinguished 
himself  chiefly  by  attacking  Dr.  Sprat's  "  History  of  the  Royal  Society," 
and  a  Treatise  against  the  Philosophy  of  Aristotle,  written  by  Joseph 
Glanvill.  The  dispute  with  the  latter  was  carried  on  with  much  asperity, 
and  both  parties  repeatedly  appealed  to  the  press.     Stubbe  was  drowned 


BIOGRAPHICAL  ANECDOTES.  137 

July  12,  167G,  in  passing  a  river  about  two  miles  from  Bath,  while  on  a 
journey  to  Bristol,  in  the  exercise  of  his  profession.  His  body  was  found  the 
next  day,  and  interred  in  the  Abbey  Church  at  Bath ;  when  his  literary  an- 
tagonist Glanvill  preached  his  funeral  sermon. 

Wood,  in  his  "  Athenae  Oxonienses,"  represents  Stubbe  as  a  man  of  very 
extensive  learning  and  great  abilities,  but  thoughtless,  hot-headed,  and  im- 
prudent, so  that  "  he  became  a  ridicule,  and  undervalued  by  sober  and  know- 
ing scholars,  and  others  too."  His  works,  in  general  relating  to  temporary 
topics,  are  now  almost  forgotten. 


John  Bowles,  B.L.  (ob.  1819,)  a  distinguished  political  writer,  was  the 
son  of  Mr.  John  Bowles,  an  eminent  print-seller  in  Cornhill.  He  was 
educated  as  a  lawyer,  and  admitted  to  the  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Laws  in  the 
University  of  Douay,  March  25,  1779,  and  to  that  of  Licentiate,  in  the  same 
University,  May  11,  1781.  At  the  early  part  of  the  French  Revolution,  when 
the  late  Thomas  Paine,  and  other  similar  writers,  attacked  the  established 
religion  and  government  of  the  country,  Mr.  Bowles  zealously  opposed  them, 
and  as  warmly  defended  the  "  existing  order  of  things."  He  published 
several  pamphlets  and  occasional  papers ;  in  one  of  which,  entitled  "  A 
Protest  against  Paine's  Rights  of  Man,"  he  urged,  with  energy,  the  strongest 
arguments  against  the  delusive  doctrines  of  that  mischievous  work.  A  society 
formed  "  for  the  protection  of  liberty  and  property  against  republicans  and 
levellers,"  which  then  met  at  the  Crown  and  Anchor  Tavern,  contributed  to 
give  great  popularity  to  this  well-timed  pamphlet,  by  ordering  it  to  be  printed 
and  sold  at  a  cheap  rate,  with  a  view  of  disseminating  it  among  the  lower 
orders  of  the  people. 

Mr.  Bowles  was  a  Barrister  at  Law,  residing  at  Dulwich,  in  Surrey,  for 
which  county  he  was  a  Justice  of  the  Peace  and  Quorum.  He  was  also 
a  Commissioner  of  Bankrupts,  and  for  some  time  one  of  the  Commissioners 
for  the  Sale  of  Dutch  Prizes.  Having  taken  lodgings  in  Queen  Square,  Bath, 
he  died  there  October  30,  1819,  at  the  age  of  66,  and  was  interred  in  the 
Abbey  Church,  where  a  marble  tablet,  inscribed  with  a  Latin  epitaph,  is 
erected  to  his  memory.  His  publications  are  very  numerous,  and  almost 
wholly  relate  to  the  party  politics  of  the  times  in  which  he  lived. 


APPENDIX. 


Num.  I.  Page  18. 

Carta  Willielmi  II.  Regis,  qua  Abbatiam  S.  Petri  Bathonia  Johanni  Episcopo  Somersetensi 

ad  ampliandos  Episcopates  donat. 

[Reg.  Well.  i.  fol.  14.  Hearn.  Ad.  de  Domerh.  torn.  i.  p.  278.    Vide  etiam  Hickes,  Dissert.  Epist.  p.  47.J 

Pax  in  perpetuum  deicolis  omnibus,  tarn  futuris  tam  praesentibus.  Quoniam  Deo  omni- 
potente  tempora  saeculorum  ordinante,  et  his,  prout  placuerit,  finem  imponente,  coelum  et 
terra,  et  omnia  quae  in  eis  sunt,  suo  fine  transibunt,  et  vita  nostra,  qua?  ad  tempus  floret, 
et  cito  tanquam  flos  fceni  decidit,  videtur  esse  momentanea ;  idcirco  cunctis  agendum,  ut 
hie  bonis  actibus  futurae  beatitudinis  mercemur  gaudia,  absque  omni  immutatione  peren- 
niter  mansura.  Quocirca  ego  Willielmus  Willielmi  regis  filius,  Dei  dispositione  monarches 
Britannia?,  pro  meas  meique  patris  remedio  animae,  et  Regni  prosperitate,  et  populi  a 
Domino  mihi  collati  salute,  accessi  Johanni  episcopo  abbatiam  Sancti  Petri  Bathoniae,  cum 
omnibus  appendiciis,  tam  in  villis  quam  in  civitate  et  in  consuetudinibus,  illis  videlicet 
quibus  saisita  erat  ea  die  qua  regnum  suscepi.  Dedi,  inquani,  ad  Somersetensis  episcopates 
augmentationem,  eatenus  praesertim  ut  mihi  instituat  praesuleam  sedem.  Anno  Dominicae 
incamationis  mill.  XC°.  regni  vero  mei  III.,  indictione  XIII.,  VI.  Kal.  Febr.  luna  III. 
pepigi  id,  in  eorum  optimatum  meorum  presentia  +  quorum  nomina  subtus  sunt  annexa  ; 
et  ut  per  posteritates  succedentes  apud  homines  quosque,  veritatis  amatores,  perseveret 
ratum,  meae  regiae  auctoritatis  annecto  sigillum,  sed  et  propria  manu  mea  depingo  crucis 
Dominicae  signum  +  Lanfranco  archipraesuli  machinante.  Wintoniae  factum  est  donum 
hujus  beneficii,  mill.  LXXXVIII".  anno  ab  incarnatione  Domini ;  secundo  vero  anno  regni 
regis  Willielmi  filii  prioris  Willielmi.  Confirmatio  autem  hujus  cartas  facta  est  apud 
Doveriam,  eo  tempore  quod  superius  determinatum  est.  +  Ego  Thomas  archiepiscopus 
Eboracensis  laudavi.  Ego  Mauricius  Londinensis  episcopus  corroboravi.  +  Ego  WaK 
chelinus  Wintoniensis  episcopus  aptavi.  Ego  Osmundus  Sarbiensis  episcopus  consolidavi. 
Ego  Osbernus  Exoniensis  episcopus  confirmavi.  Ego  Remigius  Lincolniensis  episcopus 
astruxi.  Ego  Rotbertus  Herefordiensis  episcopus  audivi.  Ego  Rotbertus  Cestrensis  epis- 
copus conspexi.  +  Ego  Arnulfus  Rouercestrensis  episcopus  annui.  Ego  Wolestannus 
Wigrecestrensis  episcopus  accessi.  Ego  Radulfus  Cicistrensis  episcopus  vidj.  Ego  Her- 
bertus  Tetfordensis  episcopus  audivi.  Ego  GoifFridus  Constantiensis  hoc  exquisivi.  + 
Ego  Hoellus  Cenomannensis  episcopus  interfui.  +  Ego  Wido  abbas  Sancti  Augustini 
Cantuarii.   +     Ego  Gislebertus  abbas  Sancti  Petri  Westmonasterii.     Ego  Terstinus  abbas 


APPENDIX.  139 

Glestoniensis.  Ego  Symeon  abbas  de  Eli.  Ego  Balduinus  abbas  Sancti  Eadmundi. 
Ego  Raginaldus  abbas  de  Abendona.  Ego  Robertus  abbas  Sancti  Petri  Wintoniae.  Ego 
Walterus  abbas  de  Evesham.  Ego  Paulus  abbas  Sancti  Albani.  Ego  Odo  abbas  de 
Certiseio.  Ego  Godefridus  abbas  de  Malmesberia.  Ego  Grisbirtus  abbas  de  Bello.  Ego 
Serlo  abbas  de  Glocestria.  Ego  Goisfridus  Mala  Terra.  +  Ego  Rogerus  comes.  Ego 
Rotbertus  comes.  +  Ego  Symon  comes.  Ego  Hugo  comes.  Ego  Alanus  comes.  Ego 
Henricus  comes.  Ego  Walterus  comes.  Ego  Willielmus  comes.  Ego  Rotbertus  filius 
Hannonis.  Ego  Philippus  capellanus.  +  Ego  Rotbertus  cancellarius.  Ego  Samson 
capellanus.  +  Ego  Geraldus  capellanus.  Ego  Ausgerus  capellanus.  +  Ego  Willielmus 
capellanus.  +  Ego  Ranulfus  capellanus.  +  Ego  Petras  capellanus.  +  Ego  Tusaldus 
capellanus.  Ego  Eudo  dapifer.  Ego  Ivo  dapifer.  Ego  Hanno  dapifer.  Ego  Rogerus 
dapifer.  Ego  Willielmus  dapifer.  Ego  Rotbertus  de  Oili.  Ego  Urso  de  Abetot.  Rot- 
bertus dispensator.  Hugo  de  Portu.  Rogerus  de  Busleio.  Ranulfus  Peverellus  + 
Aiulfus  vicecomes  +  Alveradus  de  Lincoln  +  Ernulfus  de  Hesding  +   Folco  Crispinus. 


Num.  II.    Page  18. 

Carta  Willielmi  Regis  II.  de  Civitate  Bathonitz. 

[Ex  vetusto  Exemplari  in  Bibl.  Deuvestana  an.  1644,  hodie  MS.  Harl.  Brit.  Mus.  358.  fol.  39.] 

W.  Rex  Anglorum,  O.  episcopo  Saresbergensi,  et  L.  abbati  Glastoniensi  et  A.  vice- 
comiti ;  omnibusque  baronibus  Francigenis  et  Anglis,  de  Sumerseta  et  de  Wiltunsire, 
salutem.  Sciatis  me  dedisse  Deo  et  Sancto  Petro  in  Bathonia,  et  Johanni  episcopo, 
totam  civitatem  Bathoniae  in  elemosinam,  et  ad  augmentationem  pontificialis  sedis  suae, 
et  omnibus  successoribus  suis;  pro  remedio  animae  patris  mei,  matrisque  meae,  et  mei 
ipsius,  et  antecessorum  et  successorum  meorum.  Dedi,  inquam,  ei  ita  libere  et  honorifice, 
cum  omnibus  appenditiis,  quidquid  ego  ibi  habui,  vel  pater  meus,  dum  melius  habuimus 
cum  omnibus  consuetudinibus  extra  et  infra,  ut  liberalius  habeo  civitatem  in  tota  Anglia  ; 
cum  moneta,  cum  theloneo,  tarn  in  campis  quam  in  sylvis,  tam  in  foro  quam  in  pratis 
et  in  terris.  Ut  cum  maximo  honore  ibi  pontificialem  suam  habeat  sedem :  et  de  hoc  pro- 
palantur  testes,  Walkelinus  Wintoniensis  episcopus,  Robertus  Lincoliensis  episcopus, 
Robertus  comes  de  Mellent,  Henricus  comes  de  Warwic,  Robertus  filius  Hamonis,  Eudo 
dapifer,  Ivo  dapifer,  Robertus  filius  Geraldi,  Robertus  dispensator,  Williel.  de  Carokela. 


Num.  III.     Page  32. 
[Reg.  Well.  Drokenesford.  Harl.  MS.  6954,  p.  70.] 

Litera  ad  Rob.  Priorem  Bathon.  de  miserabili  statu  istius  conventus.     Bona  domae 
predictae   ex  nimia   simplicitate  seu  negligentia  custodum  in  tantum  sunt  his  diebus 


140  APPENDIX. 

evacuata  seu  consumpta,  quod  monachi  dictae  ecclesiae  saepius  non  solum  pane  et  cervisia, 
quod  fari  pudet,  hora  comestionis,  verQm  etiam  carnium  et  piscium  carent  omnino  ferculis 
consuetis  ;  et  cibaria  vilia  et  insana  quae  gustare  nequeunt  eisdem  inhumaniter  tribuuntur. 
Et  si  quis  ipsorum  gravatur,  murmuret,  vel  petat  a.  vobis  cautativ&,  bono  etiam  zelo, 
juxta  formam  regulae  et  antiquam  ordinationem  domus,  laudabiliter  usitatam,  suppleri 
defectum  hujusmodi  subtractorum  seu  viliter  oblatorum,  statim  verbis  contumeliosis  com- 
minatur :  eidem  quod  esca  deterior  sibi  providebitur,  et  poena  gravior  subsequetur.  26  Aug. 
1321.  "  Die  Sabbat,  prox.  fest.  Sancti  Matth.  1324.  Litera  Domini  Episcopi  pro  col- 
lecta  facienda  ad  fabricam  Eccl.  Cathedr.  Bathon."     Ibid.  p.  91. 


Num.  IV.    Page  32. 

Injunctiones  facta  Priori  et  Conv.  Bathon.  9  Oct.  A.D.  1500. 
[Hari.  MS.  e  Registro  Oliveri  Kyng,  Episcop.  Bath.  Well.,  fol.  62.] 

Oliverus  permissione  divina  B.  W.  episcopus,  dilectis  nobis  in  Christo,  confratri  nostro 
priori  et  conv.  Bathon.,  salutem,  gratiam,  et  benedictionem.  Tandem  dolenter  inter  csetera 
invenimus  dictam  nostram  Ecclesiam  Cath.  Bathon.,  per  incuriam  multorum  priorum,  non 
reparatam  aut  refectam,  imo  funditus  dirutam,  ipsisque  in  voluptatibus  evanuisse:  pri- 
oremque  modernum,  cui  praedecessorum  suorum  culpam  non  ascribimus,  remissum  non 
benevolum  ad  dictae  ecclesiae  refectionem  seu  edificationem  paterna  compassione  deplora- 
mus.  Nos  igitur,  praemissis  consideratis,  de  consilio  multorum  nobilium,  praelatorum,  et 
abbatum,  ac  aliorum  jurisperitorum,  de  Dei  misericordia.  et  apostolorum  ejus  Petri  et 
Pauli  patrocinio  confisi ;  necnon  aliorum  Christi  fidelium  et  amicorum  nostrorum  ele- 
mosyna  freti :  eo  libentius  quo  celerem  dicti  operis  expeditionem  et  perfectionem  conspici- 
mus  manus  nostras  adjutrices  duximus  apponend.,  non  laboribus  aut  expensis  nostris 
parcentes.  Speramus  itaque  dictum  opus  perfectum  volentes  infra  paucos  annos  facere 
quod  nunquam  impensis  dictorum  prioris  et  conventus,  aut  vix  infra  centum  annos 
nostra,  et  amicorum  nostrorum  omissa  vel  spreta  diligenter  posse  fieri  existimamus. 
Quamobrem  praefatos  defectus  monachorum,  voluptates,  otia,  ecclesiae  ruinam,  ex  super- 
fluitate  pensionum,  indumentorum,  cibariorum,  et  potuum  orta,  temperare  volentes.  Ut 
etiam  aliis  Christi  fidelibus  in  elemosynarum  suarum  largitione  pios  animos  non  aufe- 
ramus,  si  dictos  priorem  et  conventum  non  reformatos,  aut  competentes  expensas  ad 
dictum  opus  juxta  vires  non  conferre  dimittemus,  praesentes  Injunctiones  ab  eisdem 
fidelibus  observandas  decrevimus. 

Et  quia  per  visum  compoti  vestri  luculenter  nobis  apparet  quod  redditus  assisae  bene- 
ficiorum,  summarum,  et  pensionum  cum  exitibus  lanae  extendit  ad  summam  iiijc.  iiijxx. 
libr.  xvj5.  vjd.  ob.,  vobis,  domine  prior,  ad  sustentationem  vestram  iiijXI.  marc,  injungendo 
assignamus.  Item  conventui  vestro  qui  xvi.  numero  existunt,  et  ut  arbitrio  abundantius 
exhibeantur  quam  stricte  regulae  vestrae  intellectu  ad  nudam  literam,  cavetur  iiijx\  lib. 


APPENDIX.  141 

Item  caetera  onera  rationi  consoni,  prout  in  eodem  visu  continentur,  de  summa  etiani 
praedicta  deducenda  censemus  omnia.  Praeterxx.  lib.  de  firma  feudi  de  Benton,  et  clx.  lib. 
ad  exhibitionem  monachorum,  cum  credamus  et  sufficienter  experimur  quod  iiijxx.  lib. 
summa  ad  sustentationem  eorem  sufficiat,  xl\  de  feudo  celerarii,  xxvjs.  viijd.  de  feudo 
sacristae,  xxs.  de  decima  fceni  sacristae  antedicto  assignat.  xxxs.  pro  decima  agnellorum 
etiam  sacristae  assignat. ;  cum  monachis  solus  victus  et  vestitus,  non  pensio  aut  proprium 
concedatur.  Prseter  etiam  1.  lib.  pro  reparationibus  vestris  in  maneriis  faciendis  cum 
judicio  nostra  xl.  lib.  sufficiant ;  necnon  xx.  lib.  pro  stipendio  servientum,  cum  etiam  ipsis 
x.  lib.  sufficiant.  Residuam  vera  omnium  proventuum,  deductis  necessariis  loco,  tempore, 
per  nos  vobis  citra  festum  natalis  Domini  assignand.  in  constructionem  dictae  Ecclesiae 
nostras  cath.  exponend.  et  realiter  expendenda  mandamus  et  injungimus  sub  poena  juris. 
Volentes  quod  omnium  casualium  anni  instantis,  et  aliorum  annorum  futurorum,  viz.  ter- 
rarum,  ecclesiarum  in  manibus  vestris  tentarum,  finium,  heriotorum,  mortuariorum,  rele- 
viorum,  custodiarumjuvenum,  et  eorum  maritagiorum,  wevarum,  streyarum,  amerceamen- 
torum,  reddituum  capitalium,  venditionum  agnorum,  ovium  matricum,  sub-bosci,  et  caete- 
rorum  omnium  quorumcunque  quocunque  nomine  censeantur,  fidelem  nobis  compotum 
infra  mensem  post  compotum  vestrum  generalem  apud  vos  ut  moris  est  tenend.  et  cele- 
brand.  una  cum  compoto  omnium  beneficiorum,  pensionum  et  portionum  vestris  officianis 
deputat.  archi.  exhibeatis. 


APPENDIX— Num.  V.     Page  44. 
[E  Cod.  MS.  in  Bibl.  Paroch.  Sti.  Pet.  et  Pauli  Bathon.] 

Certaine  Remembrances,  the  while,  till  a  more  longe  Relation  shall  be  made,  touching  the 
Reperation  of  the  Church  of  St.  Peter  and  Paul  in  the  cittie  of  Bathe,  since  the 
manie  Ruins  of  the  same. 

It  appeareth,  that  at  three  severall  tymes  the  Ruins  of  this  Church  have  bene  un- 
dertaken to  be  repaired,  part  after  part.  First,  by  the  cittie,  with  a  collection  all  over 
this  kingdome  for  seaven  years  in  the  tyme  of  our  late  Queen  Elizabeth  of  blessed 
memorie,  by  virtue  of  her  Majesty's  Letters  Patents  :  in  which  seaven  yeares  the  upper 
part  thereof  was  all  covered,  with  the  north  part  of  the  cross  isle  as  it  now  standeth.  The 
principal  benefactor  to  the  first  was  Edmund  Colethurst,  Esquier,  in  whose  possession  this 
church  then  was,  and  gave  it  to  the  cittie,  though  uncovered  and  much  ruined,  as  it  had 
long  stood  after  the  dissolution,  yet  the  walls  of  the  great  tower  and  of  most  part  of  the 
church  were  then  standinge. 

The  second  tyme  the  south  part  of  the  cross-isle  was  raised  neere  from  the  ground, 
and  covered  as  it  is  now,  and  the  tower  also  lofted  and  leaded  as  it  now  is,  with  the 
clocke  set  in  it ;  and  the  bell  to  go ;  as  they  both  now  doe.  The  principal  benefactor  to 
this  worke  was  Thomas  Bellott,  Esquire,  steward  of  the  house  and  one  of  the  executors 


142  APPENDIX. 

of  the  Right  Honorable  William,  Lord  Burley,  late  Lord  Treasurer  of  England  :  part  at 
his  Lorde's  charge,  the  rest  at  his  owne.  Mr.  Bellott  began  his  worke  in  Queene 
Elizabeth's  time,  and  left  it  with  his  life,  since  his  sacred  Majesty's  reigne  that  now  is. 

The  third  tyme  was  repaired  the  third  part  of  this  church,  that  from  the  tower 
westward.  The  principall  benefactor  to  this  was  the  Right  Reverend  Father  in  God, 
James  Montague,  Doctor  in  Divinity,  then  Bishop  of  Bathe  and  Welles,  since  Bishop 
of  Winchester,  one  of  the  Lords  of  his  Majesty's  Privie  Counsell,  and  Prelate  of  the 
Garter,  now  deceased,  and  heere  buried  in  the  body  of  this  church,  which  at  his  charge 
was  so  lately  covered. 

Of  particuler  benefactors  to  the  First  worke  wee  understand  yett  (besides  the  prin- 
cipall, Mr.  Edmund  Colethurst)  but  of  two,  who  were,  Thomas  Earle  of  Sussex,  Lord 
Chamberlaine  to  the  Queene's  Majesty,  at  whose  charge  was  glased  the  uppermost  of 
the  heigh  windowes  on  the  north  side  of  the  quire,  and  Walter  Callcutt,  of  Williamscot, 
in  the  countie  of  Oxford,  Gentleman,  who  gave  ten  poundes  towardes  the  glasing  of  win- 
dowes in  the  said  first  repaired  part. 

Memorandum,  that  Sir  William  Pastone,  of  Northfolke,  Knight,  and  Mr.  Daniel. 
Walters,  of  the  said  county,  gent.,  were  the  first  benefactors  to  the  seconde  worke  A6  Dfii 
1604,  and  gave  severally  as  appeareth  in  the  list  following. 

Benefactors  to  the  Second  Worke. 

Thomas  Bellott,  of  London,  Esquier,  before-named,  gave  at  first  towardes  the  building 
uppe  of  the  south  isle  200/. 

Sir  William  Pastone,  of  Northfolke,  Knight,  gave  towards  that  worke  100/. 

John  Still,  Doctor  in  Divinitie,  Bishopp  of  Bathe  and  Wells,  gave  20/. 

William  Powell,  Doctor  in  Divinitie,  Archdeacon  of  Bathe,  gave  the  first  tyme,  (viz.) 
the  xxvth  of  May,  1603,  10/. 

Walter  Chapman,  Thomas  Wint,  and  Peter  Sherstone,  all  of  this  cittie,  paid  in  the 
xxixtb  of  October,  1603,  of  moneyes  that  they  gave  and  gathered  of  the  cittie  of  Bathe, 
35/.  18s. 

Peter  Sherstone  aforesaid,  paid  in  more,  3rd  of  November,  1603,  8/.  10s. 

Thomas  Power,  Alderman  of  this  cittie,  in  November  1603,  gave  21.  10s. 

Danyell  Walters,  of  Worsted,  in  the  county  of  Norff.,  gent.,  gave  10/. 

John  Dunn,  inhabitant  of  this  cittie,  in  November  1603,  gave  10s. 

Laurence  Biam,  clerke,  beneficed  in  Devonshire,  who  had  then  certaine  housing  in  this 
Cittie,  gave  8/. 

John  Masters  the  elder,  one  of  the  Common  Counsell  of  this  cittie,  gave  21. 

Edward  Horton,  of  this  cittie,  Esquier,  gave  in  his  life-type,  61.,  and  by  his  last  will 
and  testament  gave  more,  that  was  paid  in  by  John  Maie  and  Henrie  Long,  Esquiers,  his, 
the  said  Edward  Horton's  executors,  56/. 

Mrs.  Alice  Stone,  wife  to  Christopher  Stone,  Alderman  of  this  cittie,  gave  10/. 

Mr.  Robert  Rogers,  citizen  of  Bristoll,  gave  5/. 


APPENDIX.  143 

Mr.  Walton,  alias  Walter,  of  Northfolke,  gent.,  in  November  1606,  gave  51. 

William  Powell,  Doctor  in  Divinitie,  Archdeacon  of  Bathe,  gave  the  second  tyme  (viz.) 
the  26th  of  September,  1607, 11. 

Winsor,  of Esquier,  the  xxth  of  March,   1607,  gave  10/. 

Rowland  Backhouse,  of  London,  Merchant  and  Alderman,  free  of  the  company  of 
Mercers,  executor  unto  Mr.  Bartholomew  Barnes,  of  the  same  cittie,  mercer,  in  the 
behalf  of  the  said  Mr.  Barnes,  who  lieth  buried  in  the  south  side  of  the  quier  at  the  upper 
end,  gave  12/. 

Thomas  Wiat,  of  this  cittie,  Alderman,  in  Maie  1609,  brought  in  of  the  church  stocke 
of  St.  Michaell's  without  gate,  4/.  6s. 

George  Gibbes,  of  this  cittie,  apothecarie,  gave  by  his  last  will  and  testament,  which 
was  paid  in  by  his  executrix  in  June  1609,  51. 

Sir  George  de  Poll,  of  Snarfford,  in  the  countie  of  Lincolne,  Knight  and  Baronett,  in 
June  1609,  gave  5/. 

John  Elmer,  of  this  cittie,  chirurgian,  gave  by  his  last  will  and  testament,  51. 

Richard  Hall,  of  Alton-Barnes,  in  the  countie  of  Wilts,  yeoman,  in  September  1613, 
gave  51.  .  ■ 

Suma,  514/.  14s. 

Towards  the  Bell  in  this  Church,  bought  at  Caynsam,  that  cost  there  80/. 

William  Ford,  of  this  cittie,  gathered  in  the  great  church,  21. 10s.  8d. 

The  Lord  Rich,  gave  about  the  same  tyme,  21. 

William  Ford  and  George  Gibbs,  both  of  this  cittie,  collected  in  Staules  Parish,  and 
paid  in  10/. 

John  Parker,  the  younger,  of  this  cittie,  clothier,  collected  in  St.  Marie's  Parish,  and 
paid  in  11/.  18s.  6d. 

John  Sherston,  since  Alderman  of  this  cittie,  collected  in  St.  James's  Parish,  and  paid 
in  12/. 

The  parishioners  of  St.  Michael's  without  gate,  among  them,  gave  8/.  18s.  2d. 

George  Chapman  and  John  Chapman,  collected  of  Bachilers  towards  the  buyinge  of 
the  bell,  3/.  14s.  Ad. 

Thomas  Bellott,  Esquier,  before  mentioned,  gave  more  toward  es  the  said  bell,  30/. 

Sume  of  the  money  given  to  the  bell,  81/.  Is.  8d.,  whereof  80/.  was  paid  for  the  said 
bell,  and  the  rest,  viz.  1/.  Is.  8d.  was  bestowed  otherwise  about  this  church  work. 

The  sume  total  hitherto  cometh  to  595/.  15s.  8d.  Besides  for  casting  the  same  bell, 
27/.  10s. 

Besides  two  of  the  lower  windowes  glased  and  repaired  still,  the  one  over  the  vestrie 
doore,  by  the  Companie  of  Tylers  of  this  cittie,  the  other  in  the  West  side  of  the  crosse 
south  isle,  by  Richard  Beacon,  of  this  cittie,  tyler,  who  did  all  the  tiling  worke  from  the 
first  to  the  last  upon  this  Church. 

And  besides  all  the  galeries,  the  font,  the  partitions  betweene  the  body  of  the  Church 
and  the  quire,  the  seates  in  the  Chappell  for  noblemen  and  men  of  worshipp,  and  the 


144  APPENDIX. 

seates  at  the  upper  ende  of  the  quire  for  ladys  and  gentlemen  of  sort  that and 

the  seats  for  the  minister  and  clerke,  all  done  at  the  charge  of  the  aforenamed  Thomas 
Bellott. 

The  seates  in  the  quire  on  the  south  and  north  sides  thereof  were  done  at  the  Cittie's 
charge  of  10/. 

The  said  Thomas  Bellot,  besides  all  this,  caused  the  great  east  window  of  the  quire  to 
be  repaired  with  mason's  worke,  with  smith's  worke,  and  to  be  all  glased  at  his  only  charge 
of  60/. 

Benefactors  to  the  Third  Worke. 

James  Montague,  Doctor  in  Divinitie,  Bishoppe  of  Bathe  and  Wells,  gave  at  first  1000/. 
Gilbert,  Earle  of  Shrewsberrie,  gave  xx  timber  trees. 
Thomas,  Earle  of  Suffolke,  gave  fiftie  tunne  of  timber. 
William,  Lord  Compton,  since  Earle  of  Northampton,  gave  40/. 

George  Rives,  Doctor  in  Divinity,  and  Warden  (with  the  fellowes)  of  New  College  in 
Oxford,  gave  a  goodlie  oake  that  grewe  uppon  their  mannor  of  Cullerne,  which  yelded 
well  neere  5  tunne  of  prime  good  timber,  besides  the  topp  and  armes.  The  said  Doctor 
George  Rives  gave  besides,  of  his  own  free  gift,  5/. 

Henry  Hide,  of  Dyneton,  in  the  Countie  of  Wilts,  Esquier,  gave  (into  the  bargaine 
of  timber,  bought  of  him  at  Trowbridge  for  this  Church,)  three  timber  trees. 

Francis,  Earle  of  Rutland,  gave  to  the  glasynge  of  the  first  upper  windowe  in  the 
south  side  of  the  Church,  and  to  the  other  uses  of  the  Church,  20/. 

Francis  Lord  Norrys,  at  whose  charge  the  second  upper  windowe  of  that  south  side  was 
glased. 

The  Lady  Elizabeth,  Barronesse  of  Hunsdon,  at  whose  charge  the  middlemost  of  those 
higher  windowes  was  glased. 

John  May,  of  Charterhouse  in  this  countie  of  Somersett,  Esquier,  at  whose  charge  the 
fower  upper  window  of  that  side  was  glased. 

John  Kerry,  of  Weston  juxta  Bathe,  in  this  countie  of  Somersett,  Esquier,  at  whose 
charge  the  fift  Westward  of  those  upper  windowes  was  glased. 

Francis  James,  Doctor  of  the  Civil  Laws,  Chancellour  of  this  Diocese,  at  whose  whole 
charge  was  glased  the  great  windowe  over  the  great  dore  at  the  ende  of  the  church. 

The  Lady  Anne,  Countesse  Dowager  of  Dorsett,  at  whose  charge  was  glased  the  first 
upper  windowe  of  the  north  side  of  the  bodie  of  the  church. 

Sir  Robert  Ritch,  Knight,  at  whose  charge  was  glased  the  second  upper  windowe  on 
the  north  side. 

Sir  Francis  Seymour,  Knight,  at  whose  charge  was  glased  the  middlemost  of  those 
upper  windowes. 

Sir  Edward  Rodney,  of  Rodney-stoke,  within  this  countie  of  Somersett,  Knight,  at 
whose  charge  was  glased  the  fourth  of  those  upper  windowes  on  the  north  side. 

Francis  Barber,  of  Chewe,  within  this  countie  of  Somersett,  Esquier,  at  whose  charge 
was  glased  the  fift  of  the  upper  windowes  on  the  north  side  of  the  church. 


APPENDIX.  145 

Sir  Maurice  Bartlett,  of  Bruton,  within  this  countie  of  Somersett,  Knight,  at  whose 
charge  was  glased  the  first  of  the  upper  windowes  eastward,  of  the  south  crosse  isle. 

George  Speake  the  younger,  of  White-Lackington,  within  the  countie  of  Somersett, 
Esquier,  at  whose  charge  was  repaired  with  mason's  worke,  barred  with  iron  and  glased, 
the  second  easte  upper  windowe  of  that  south  crosse  isle. 

Sir  Hugh  Smith,  of  Long-Aston,  within  this  countie  of  Somersett,  Knight,  at  whose 
charge  was  glased  the  first  upper  windowe  on  the  west  side  of  the  aforesaid  crosse 
south  isle. 

Robert  Baynard,  of  Lackhame,  and  Edward  Reade,  of  Cossam,  both  of  the  countie  of 
Wiltes,  Esquiers,  and  brethren  in  lawe,  at  whose  joynt  charge  was  repaired  with  mason's 
worke,  barred  with  iron,  and  glased,  the  first  of  the  upper  windowes,  in  the  east  part  of 
the  north  crosse  isle. 

Sir  James  Ley,  of  Beckington,  within  this  countie  of  Somersett,  Knight,  and  Attorney- 
General  of  the  court  of  Wardes,  at  whose  charge  was  repaired  with  mason's  worke, 
barred  with  iron,  and  glased,  the  second  upper  windowe  on  the  east  side  of  the  north 
crosse  isle. 

James  Bisse,  of  Batcomb,  within  this  countie  of  Somersett,  Esquier,  at  whose  charge 
was  glased  the  first  of  the  lower  windowes  on  the  north  side  of  the  body  of  the  church. 

Thomas  Norreys,  of  this  cittie,  Esquier,  at  whose  charge  was  glased  the  second  of  the 
lower  windowes  on  that  side. 

William  Plumly,  of  Newton  St.  Lowe,  within  this  countie  of  Somersett,  gent.,  at  whose 
charge  was  glased  the  middlemost  of  those  lower  windowes  on  the  north  side  of  the  body 
of  the  church. 

William  St.  Barbe,  Bacchalaur  in  Divinitie,  and  Prebender  of  Hereford,  at  whose 
charge  was  glased  the  fourthe  windowe,  westward,  on  the  north  side  of  the  body  of  the 
church. 

Michaell  Mallett,  of  Warwick,  in  the  county  Warwick,  Esquier,  at  whose  charge  was 
glased  the  fift  windowe,  westward,  on  the  north  side  of  the  body  of  the  church. 

Philipp  Welsh,  of  London,  glasier,  at  whose  charge  was  glased  the  lower  west  windowe 
over  the  north  dore,  at  entering  into  the  church. 

William  Bassett,  of  Claverton,  in  the  countie  of  Somersett,  Esquier,  at  whose  charge 
was  glased  the  second  of  the  lower  windowes  on  the  south  side  of  the  body  of  the 
church. 

William  Blanchard,  of  Kattherne,  in  this  countie  of  Somersett,  Esquier,  at  whose 
charge  was  glased  the  second  of  the  lower  windowes,  on  the  south  side  of  the  bodie  of 
the  church. 

John  Barker,  of  Bristoll,  Marchant,  at  whose  charge  was  glased  the  third,  westward,  of 
those  lower  windowes  on  the  south  side  of  the  bodie  of  the  church. 

Sir  John  Strafford,  of  Thomburie,  in  the  countie  of  Gloucester,  Knight,  at  whose  charge 
was  glased  the  fourth  of  those  lower  windowes  on  the  south  side  of  the  bodie  of  the  church 
over  the  doore  into  the  Abbie  Garden. 

u 


146  APPENDIX. 

Benefactors  to  the  repairinge  of  the  Ruines  which  were  of  the  Vaulting  loorke,  and  to 
the  beautifying  thereof,  as  it  now  is,  with  the  new  walls  and  windowes  of  the  two  lower 
allies  in  the  upper  part  of  the  Church. 

Edward,  Earle  of  Worcester,  at  whose  charge  of  xxl.  was  made  and  beautified,  that  part 
of  the  vaulting  worke  over  the  great  windowe  in  the  south  of  the  crosse  isle. 

The  cittie  of  Bathe,  at  whose  charge  of  was  made  all  the  vaulting  worke  under 

the  Tower. 

The  Citizens  and  Inhabitants  of  Bathe,  with  the  helpe  of  some  other  good  friends,  at 
whose  charge  of  were  repaired  and  beautified  all  the  vaulting  workes  of  the  north 

crosse  isle,  and  of  the  quire  of  this  churche,  from  the  tower  eastward.     The  names  of 
these  benefactors  are  upon  a  booke  of  purpose  touching  that  worke. 

Miles  Jackson,  of  Combe-Harvay,  in  this  countie  of  Somersett,  Esquier,  at  whose  charge 
was  repaired  and  beautified  all  the  vaulting  worke  of  the  north  allie  of  the  quire. 

Thomas  Power,  Alderman  and  Maior  of  this  cittie,  by  his  last  will  and  testament 
gave  101. 

Nicholas  Hide,  Esquier,  Recorder  of  this  cittie,  gave  51. 

Thomas  Lesson,  one  of  the  Phisitions  of  this  cittie,  by  his  last  will  and  testament 
gave  3/. 

The  widdowe  Gold,  of  Dorchester,  in  the  countie  of  Dorsett,  administratrix  to  her 
husband,  James  Gold,  who  deceased  in  this  cittie,  and  lieth  buried  in  this  church,  gave  51. 

Al  whiche  in  toto  the  summe  of  23/.  was  bestowed  uppon  repairing  the  greater  part  of 
the  vaulting  part  of  the  lower  southe  ile  of  the  quire,  and  uppon  the  newe  building  of  the 
ende  wall  of  the  said  ile,  with  the  doree  and  window  glased,  as  it  all  now  standeth. 

Hugh  Bayley,  bone-setter,  an  inhabitant  of  this  cittie,  repaired  and  beautified  the  lower 
part  of  the  vaulting  worke  of  the  said  southe  ile  next  the  crosse  ile. 

Jefferay  Flower,  of  Philipp's-Norton,  in  this  countie  of  Somersett,  Gentleman,  at  whose 
onely  charge  was  built  upp  the  newe  walle  with  the  doore  therein,  and  the  windowe,  as  it 
now  standeth,  at  the  east  ende  of  the  north  allie  of  the  quire. 

Mr.  Rocke,  Alderman  of  the  cittie  of  Rochester,  in  the  countie  of  Kente,  gave  21.,  which 
by  his  appoyntment  was  bestowed  upon  the  painting  and  beautefying  of  the  doores  and 
pillers  at  the  first  entrance  into  the  upper  part  of  the  church,  all  under  the  gallery  over 
the  font. 

Benefactors  to  the  Paving  of  the  Church. 

Thomas  Bellott  at  his  onely  charge  caused  all  the  crosse  ile  of  this  Church  to  be  paved. 

Francis  Allin,  clothier,  of  this  cittie,  caused  at  his  charge  the  southe  ile  of  the  quire  to 
be  paved,  51. 

The  Ladie  Elizabeth  Boothe,  dwelling  in  this  cittie,  caused  the  greatest  part  of  the  north 
ile  of  the  said  upper  part  of  the  church  to  bee  paved.  The  rest  of  the  said  ile  was  paved 
at  the  charge  of  three  sea-farynge  men,  whose  names  were  Richard  Stanly,  John  Smith, 
and  Ellis  Wood. 


APPENDIX.  147 

John  Webb,  of  Swaynsweeke,  in  the  countie  of  Somersett,  Gentleman,  gave  10/. 
Thomas  Cox,  of  Corston,  Gent.,  gave  3/.  10s. 
John  Woode,  Alderman  of  this  cittie,  gave  1/.  10s. 

Mrs.  Margaret  Mannering,  dwelling  in  this  cittie  with  the  Lady  Booth,  by  her  last 
will,  gave  1/. 

Richard  Davis,  clerke,  Parson  of  Swaynsweeke  aforesaid,  gave  11. 

In  toto  the  sume  of  171. ,  which  was  bestowed  uppon  the  pavinge  of  the  north  allye  of 
the  bodie  of  this  church. 

The  Ladie  Hopton,  of  Whitham-Friary,  in  the  countie  of  Somersett,  and  Robert 
Hopton,  Esq.,  her  sonn,  with  some  other  of  her  familie,  have  given  the  Greate  Bell  in 
the  tower,  which  came  to  the  some  of  160/. 

The  Ladie  Rachell  Hopton                -  £20 

The  Ladie  Bacon,  one  of  her  daughters                              -  -                 20 

The  Ladie  Hubbard,  one  other  of  her  daughters          -            -  10 

The  Ladie  Phettiplace,  one  other  of  her  daughters           -  10 

The  Ladie  Banister,  one  other  of  her  daughters            -            -  -         20 

Mrs.  Cole,  one  other  of  her  daughters      -            -            -  5 

Mrs.  Stanter,  one  other  of  her  daughters                      ...  5 

Mr.  Bingham,  one  of  her  sonn-in-lawes     ...  5 

Mr.  Earnly,  one  other  of  her  sonn-in-lawes                                ..  --          5 

Mrs.  Morgan,  her  grand-child    -            -            -            -  ...       10 

The  Ladie  Mackworth,  one  other  of  her  grand-children  5 

Mr.  Robert  Hopton,  her  sonn                        ...  -         20 

Sir  Ralph  Hopton,  her  grandson,  one  of  the  knights  of  the  Bath  -         10 

Mr.  Thomas  Hopton,  her  sonn           -                          -            -  -           5 

Mr.  Arthur  Hopton,  her  sonn         -  5 

Sir  Owen  Smith,  her  grand-child         .             «.            -         .   -  -           5 

Some  160 
And  to  perfect  the  said  Bell,  the  Cittie  of  Bathe  have  laid 
out  the  some  of  -----       60 

The  Lady  Elizabeth  Poulett,   the  wife  of  Sir  John  Poulett,   of  Winchester,   in  the 
countie  of  Hampton,  Knight,   gave  to  this  church,  in  September  1631,  Three  Pounds 
which  is  laid  out  in  repaireing  and  makeing  upp  the  stayers  leadeing  into  the  tower  on  the 
south-east  ile  of  the  church. 

One  "  fayre  Bible,"  fol.  in  English  ;  Fox's  "  Acts  and  Monuments  of  the  Church," 
2  vols,  with  "  the  deske  and  chaynes ;"  three  "  Bibles  in  French,  Italian,  and  Spanish," 
with  the  "  chaynes  and  deske  belonging  to  them ;"  Minshieu's  "  Dictionarie"  of  languages  ; 
two  volumes  of  the  "  learned  Workes  of  King  James,  the  one  in  English,  the  other  in 
Latin ;"  D.  Willet's  "  Synopsis  Papismi,"  and  Pliny's  "  Naturall  Historic"  and  six 
"  Books  of  Common  Prair,"  with  the  Testament  bound  with  them,  were  also  presented  to 
this  Church  by  different  benefactors. 


ALPHABETICAL  LIST 

OF 

DISTINGUISHED    PERSONS 

Xntettrtf  in  ISatlj  abbeg  eni)utrf)«. 

A. 

Alchord,  The  Rev.  Edward,  D.D.,  died  Jan.  11,  1652. 

Aubery,  The  Rev.  Edmund,  Archdeacon  of  Wells,  6.  1714;  d.  Nov.  7,  1757. 

Avery,  William,  one  of  the  Masters  of  the  Bench  of  the  Middle  Temple,  d.  Oct.  17,  1745. 

B. 

*Baker,  William,  S.T.P.,  Bishop  of  Norwich,  b.  1667  ;  d.  Dec.  4,  1732. 

Baker,  Sir  William,  M.P.,  a  London  merchant,  b.  Nov.  5,  1705  ;  d.  Jan.  23,  1770. 

*Bates,  Ely,  Writer  on  Morals,  d.  Jan.  4,  1812. 

*Bave,  Samuel,  M.D.,  b.  at  Cologne,  1588 ;  d.  Aug.  5,  1668. 

*Beauvoir,  Osmund,  D.D.,  F.R.S.,  F.S.A.,  d.  July  1,  1789. 

Bedingfield,  Lady  Mary,  daughter  of  Viscount  Montague,  and  wife  of  Sir  Rich.  B.  of  Oxburgh, 

Norfolk,  Bart.,  b.  1733 ;  d.  Sept.  17,  1767. 
Bellingham,  John,  Esq.,  of  Farnham,  Sussex,  d.  1577. 
Bentham,  Jeremy,  author,  d.  Mar.  28,  1792. 
Boothby,  Sir  William,  Bart.,  a  Major-General  in  the  Army,   and  Colonel  of  the  6th  Regiment  of 

Foot,  d.  1787. 
Bostock,  Richard,  M.D.,  d.  Mar.  16,  1747. 
*Bowles,  John,  d.  1819. 

*Broome,  William,  LL.D.,  poet,  d.  Nov.  16,  1745. 
Buck,  Lady  Anne,  d.  1764. 
Butt,  John  Martin,  M.D.,  F.R.S.,  b.  at  Lichfield,  Oct.  14,  1738  ;  d.  Oct.  18,  1769. 

C. 

Caldwell,  Lady,  wife  of  Sir  John  C,  of  Castle  Caldwell,  in  Ireland,  b.  1756;  d.  Mar.  18,  1795. 
Callis,  Smith,  Esq.,  Rear  Admiral  of  the  Blue,  distinguished  himself  at  the  battle  of  St.  Tropez, 

b.  1709;  d.  Oct.  16,  1761. 
Camplin,  Thomas,  LL.D.,  Archdeacon  of  Bath,  and  afterwards  of  Taunton,  b.  1756;  d.  Aug.  17, 

1780. 
Champion,  Colonel  Alexander,  Chief  Commander  of  the  East  India  Company's  troops  in  Bengal, 

d.  Mar.  15,  1793. 
Chapman,  Peter,  Military  Officer  at  Tilbury  Camp,  in  the  reign  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  b.   1506; 

d.  Feb.  1602. 
Chapman,  Richard,  Alderman  of  Bath,  d.  May  1,  1572. 
Chapman,  William,  Mayor  of  Bath,  d.  Oct.  20,  1627. 
Chapman,  Robert,  A.M.,  Rector  of  Walcot,  b.  1702;  d.  1728. 
Churchill,  Lieut.-General  Charles,  Governor  of  Plymouth,  b.  1679  ;  d.  May  14,  1745. 

*  Memoirs  of  the  persons  whose  names  are  thus  marked  (*)  will  be  found  in  the  preceding  pages. 


NAMES  OF  DISTINGUISHED  PERSONS,  &C.  149 

Cranston,  Lady  Elizabeth,  b.  1770;  d.  1798. 

Crowle,  D.,  Esq.,  M.P.,  Barrister  at  Law,  b.  1699;  d.  June  21,  1757. 

D. 

Dauntsey,  John,  Physician,  d.  Feb.  1650. 

•Derrick,  Samuel,  M.C.  at  Bath,  Author,  d.  Mar.  28,  1769. 

•Draper,  Sir  William,  K.B.,  b.  1721 ;  d.  Jan.  1787. 

Durell,  John,  Esq.,  Advocate  General  of  Jersey,  6.  1705 ;  d.  June  22,  1739. 

E. 

Elletson,  Roger  Hope,  Lieutenant  Governor  of  Jamaica,  b.  1727  ;  d.  Nov.  28,  1775. 

Ellis,  Rev.  John,  LL.B.,  of  Merionethshire,  d.  1785. 

Ernele,  Walter,  Esq.,  of  Burton,  Wiltshire,  d.  Sept.  27,  1618. 

F. 

Fawkener,  Sir  Everard,  b.  1694 ;  d.  1758. 

•Fielding,  Sarah,  Author,  b.  1714  ;  d.  April  1768. 

Fleetwood,  Sir  Thomas,  Bart.,  of  Martin  Sands,  Cheshire,  d.  Dec.  1802. 

Frampton,  Mary,  daughter  of  Richard  F.,  Esq.,  of  Morton,  Dorset,  b.  Jan.  1,  1677;  d.  Sept.  6, 1698. 

Frowde,  Sir  Philip,  Knt.,  Colonel  in  the  Army  of  Charles  I.,  in  the  Civil  War,  d.  Aug.  6,  1674. 

G. 

Gambier,  James,  Vice  Admiral,  d.  1789. 

Gethin,  Lady  Grace,  Writer  of  Religious  Tracts,  wife  of  Sir  Richard  G.,  of  Gethin  Grott,  Ireland, 

Bart.,  b.  1676;  d.  Oct.  11,  1697. 
•Glanvill,  Joseph,  Rector  of  Bath  Abbey  Church,  b.  1632  ;  d.  1680. 
Godfrey,  Charles,  Esq.,  Colonel  in  the  Army,  Brother-in-law  to  the  Duke  of  Marlborough,  under 

whom  he  served  in  the  Netherlands,  b.  1648;  d.  Feb.  23,  1714. 
•Grenville,  Hon.  Henry,  d.  1784. 

Gresley,  Sir  Nigel,  Bart.,  of  Drakelow,  in  Derbyshire,  d.  1787. 
Grieve,  James  Tamesz,  of  Moscow,  in  Russia,  d.  1787. 

Grieye,  Elizabeth,  wife  of  Richard  G.,  Esq.,  of  Alnwick,  Northumberland,  d.  Nov.  7,  1752. 
Griffith,  Guyon,  D.D.,  Divine,  d.  1784. 
•Guidott,  Thomas,  M.D.,  Physician  and  Author,  d.  1701. 

H. 

•Harington,  Henry,  M.D.,  Poet  and  Musician,  b.  Sept.  29,  1727  ;  d.  Jan.  15;  1816. 
•Haweis,  Thomas,  LL.D.,  Divine,  b.  1733  ;  d.  1820; 
Hickes,  Robert  Adams,  Divine,  d.  1788. 
Honeywood,  Eliz.  d.  1812. 

Honeywood,  John,  M.A.,  Divine • 

Houston,  Sir  Patrick,  d.  1785. 

*Howlett,  The  Rev.  John,  Author,  d.  Feb.  29,  1804. 

Hudson,  Henry,  d.  1789. 

Hughes,  Robert,  Esq.,  Rear  Admiral  of  the  Red,  b.  1717;  d.  Jan.  15,  1774. 

I. 

Ivy,  Sir  George,  Knt.,  of  West  Kington,  Wiltshire,  d.  1639. 

J. 

James,  Charles,  D.D.,  Divine,  d.  1695. 

Jephson,  William,  Serjeant  at  Law,  d.  1772. 

Jerningham,  Sir  John,  Bart.,  of  Cossey  Hall,  Norfolk,  b  1679;  d.  June  14, 1737. 

*Jorden,  Edward,  M.D.,  b.  1569;  d.  1632. 


150  NAMES  OF  DISTINGUISHED  PERSONS 

K. 

Katencamp,  Herman,  British  Consul  in  Spain,  b.  at  Exeter,  Sept.  2D,  1750;  d.  March  23,  1807. 

L. 

Lapworth,  Edward,  M.D.,  d.  May  24,  1636. 

Legh,  Calveley,  M.D.,  Fellow  of  All  Souls'  College,  Oxford,  b.  1682  ;  d.  April  25,  1727. 
Leyborne,  Rebecca,  wife  of  Dr.  Robert  Leybprne,  b.  June  4,  1698  ;  d.  Feb.  18,  1756. 
Leyborne,  Robert,  D.D.,  Rector  of  St.  Dunstan's,  Stepney,  and  St.  Ann's,  Middlesex ;  and  Prin- 
cipal of  Alban-Hall,  Oxford  ;  d.  1759. 
Lychfield,  Thomas,  Lutanist  to  Queen  Elizabeth,  d.  16th  Century. 

M. 

*Maclaine,  Archibald,  LL.D.,  Divine  and  Author,  d.  1804. 

Madan,  Lieut.  Col.  Martin,  Groom  of  the  Bedchamber  to  Frederick,  Prince  of  Wales,  b.  1701; 

d.  March  4,  1756. 
*Maplet,  M.D.,  John,  b.  1615;  d.  Aug.  10,  1670. 
Martyn,  Esq.,  Thomas,  of  Exeter,  d.  September  10,  1627. 
Masham,  Lady  Damaris,  wrote  on  Morals,  daughter  of  Dr.  Ralph  Cudworth,  and  wife  of  Sir  Francis 

Masham,  of  Oates,  in  Essex,  Bart. ;  6.  June  18,  1658 ;  d.  April  20,  1708. 
Mason,  Robert,  LL.D.,  Master  of  the  Rolls,  in  the  Reigns  of  Charles  I.  and  II.,  b.  1589  ;  d.  1662. 
*Melmoth,  William,  Lawyer  and  Author,  b.  1690  ;  d.  1779. 
Meredyth,  Col.  Henry,  of  Ireland,  d.  1715. 
*Meyler,  William,  Poet,  &c,  d.  1821. 

Migliovaccio,  Jacobo  Antonio,  from  Florence,  in  Italy,  d.  1704. 
"Miller,   Lady,  Writer  of  Travels,   wife  of  Sir  John  Miller,   Bart,   of  Bath    Easton,   b.    1740 ; 

d.  June  24,  1781. 
*Montague,  James,  Bishop  of  Bath  and  Wells,  b.  1568  ;  d.  July  20,  1618. 

N. 

*Nash,  R.,  Esq.  b.  October  18,  1674 ;  d.  Feb.  3,  1761. 

Norton,   Colonel  Ambrose,    Cousin-german  of  Sir  George   Norton,   of  Abbot's   Leigh,  Somerset, 
b.  1646;  d.  September  10,  1723. 

O. 

*01iver,  William,  M.D.,  F.R.S.,  Author,  d.  April  4,  1716. 

P. 

*Pahner,  John,  Esq.  M.P.,  d.  1818. 

*Parry,  Caleb  Hillier,  M.D.  F.R.S.,  d.  1822. 

*Pelling,  John,  B.D.,  d.  Feb.  19, 1620. 

Pennington,  Hon.  Lady,  sister  of  Henry,  Viscount  Lonsdale,  and  wife  of  Sir  Joseph  Pennington, 

of  Muncaster,  Cumberland,  Baronet, d.  Sept..  15,  1738. 
Phelips,  Robert,  Esq.,  Chancellor  of  the  Duchy  of  Lancaster,  b.  Feb.  5,  1618  ;  d.  June  21,  1707. 
Philipps,  Sir  Erasmus,  Bart.,  M.P.,  of  Picton  Castle,  Pembrokeshire,  6.  1700  ;  d.  October  14,  1743. 
Poole,  David,  Esq.  Serjeant  at  Law,  b.  1703  ;   d.  October  29,  1762. 
*Porter,  Walsh,  Esq.,  Amateur,  d.  1809. 

*Postlethwaite,  Thomas,  D.D.,  Master  of  Trinity  College,  Cambridge,  b.  1733 ;  d.  May  4,  1798. 
*Pownall,  Thomas,  Antiquary,  d.  Feb.  25,  1805. 

Q. 

*Quin,  James,  Actor,  b.  1693  ;  d.  1766. 

R. 

*Rauzzini,  Venanzio,  Musician,  b.  1748  ;  d.  April  8,  1810. 


INTERRED  IN  BATH  ABBEY  CHURCH.  151 

S. 

Saunders,  Erasmus,  D.D.,  Prebendary  of  Rochester,  b.  1716;  d.  December  29,  1775. 

*Shadwell,  Sir  John,  M.D.  F.R.S.,  Physician  to  George  I.,  b.  London,  1670;  d.  1747. 

Sherwood,  John,  M.D.,  d.  Feb.  1620. 

Shrewsbury,  Elizabeth,  Countess  of,  daughter  of  John,  Lord  Dormer,  6.  1724 ;  d.  August  1809. 

*Sibthorp,  John,  M.D.,  F.R.S.,  b.  1672;  d.  1800. 

Stewart,  William,  Brigadier  General,  distinguished  himself  at  the  Battle  of  Almanza,  d.  November 

10,  1736. 
Stibbs,  Edward,  Chester  Herald,  b.  atBath,  1681 ;  d.  January  10, 1739. 
*Stubbe,  Henry,  Physician  and  Author,  d.  1676. 
Swinburne,  Sir  John,  Bart.,  of  Capheaton,  Northumberland,  b.  1697  ;  d.  January  8,  1744. 

T. 

Temple,  Sir  Richard,  Bart.,  a  Commissioner  of  the  Navy,  and  afterwards  one  of  the  Commissioners 

of  the  Revenue  at  New  York,  d.  1786. 
"Thicknesse,  Ralph,  M.A.,  Divine  and  Musician,  d.  October  11, 1742. 
Thomas,  the  Rev.  Josiah,  Archdeacon  of  Bath,  d.  1822. 

Thomson,  Sir  Alexander,  Lord  Chief  Baron  of  the  Court  of  Exchequer,  d.  April  15,  1817. 
Townsend,  Hon.  Edw.,  D.D.,  Dean  of  Norwich,  b.  1720 ;  d.  Jan.  1765. 


*Venner,  Tobias,  M.D.,  d.  1660. 

W. 

*Wall,  John,  M.D.,  b.  1709;  d.  January  27,  1776. 

Waller,  Lady  Jane,  wife  of  Sir  William  Waller,  Knight  f,  a  General  Officer  in  the  Parliamentary 

Army  during  the  Civil  Wars. 
Wally,  John,  Mayor  of  Bath,  d.  April  4,  1615. 
Walsh,  Lieut.  Col.,  Robert,  b.  1722 ;  d.  September  12,  1788. 

Webb,  John,  Esq.,  son  of  Sir  John  Webb,  Bart.,  of  Conford,  Dorset,  b.  1700  ;  d.  March  9,  1745. 
Wentworth,  Lady,  daughter  of  John,  Viscount  Lonsdale,  and  wife  of  Sir  John  Wentworth,  of 

Yorkshire,  6.  1676;  d.  April  16,  1706. 
Wyvil,   Sir   Marmaduke   Astey,  Bart.,   of  Burton   Constable,   Yorkshire,   b.  February   6,    1742  ; 

d.  February  23,  1774. 

Z. 

*Zea,  Don  Antonio  Francisco,  Agent  of  the  Colombian  Republic  in  Europe,  d.  1823. 

f  Seward,  in  his  "  Anecdotes  of  Distinguished  Persons,"  states  that  "  Sir  William  Waller  was  buried  in  the 
Abbey  Church,  Bath,"  vol.  i.  p.  402.  He  was,  however,  interred  in  a  Chapel  in  Tothill  Street,  Westminster.  See 
Chalmers's  Biog.  Diet. 


INDEX. 


Abbey  Church,  originally  a  Roman  Temple,  9 
— 10;  history  in  Saxon  times,  11 — 18;  rebuilt, 
19;  gifts  to  the  foundation,  21 — 22;  sub- 
ordinate to  Wells,  25  ;  styled  St.  Peter's  and 
St.  Paul's,  26,  note ;  surrendered,  with  the 
attached  Monastery,  to  Henry  VIII.,  31 ;  its 
dilapidated  state,  38  ;  rebuilt  by  Bishop  Oliver 
King,  39  ;  offered  for  sale,  38  ;  given  to  the 
Corporation  of  Bath,  39 ;  partially  repaired, 
ib. ;  restored  by  Bishop  Montague  and 
others,  41 — 44 ;  its  outward  appearance  im- 
proved, 45 ;  not  a  Cathedral  Church,  50 ; 
made  parochial,  51  ;  described  by  Fuller,  ib. ; 
remarks  on  its  general  plan,  52  ;  description 
of,  by  Wood,  53 — 54 ;  architectural  account 
of,  with  references  to  the  prints,  and  obser- 
vations upon  its  monuments,  55—64  ;  Bio- 
graphical notices  of  persons  interred  here, 
84—137. 

Baths,  21;   the  original  Roman  Thermce, 

46  ;  described,  ib. 

House,   or   Priory   built,   15;    sold,    38; 


pulled  down,  39. 
Abbots  of  Bath  in  Saxon  times,  15. 
Acamanni,  Acemannes-cestre,  &c,  ancient  names 

of  Bath,  12. 
Adelard  or  Athelard,  a  monk,  29. 
Adrian,  Bishop,  his  arms,  56. 
Alfred,  King,  13. 
Allen,  Rev.  Dr.,  110. 
Amelia,  Princess,  note,  95. 
Anstey,  Christ.,  lines  by,  100,   note  ;    memoir, 

111—113. 

John,  113. 

Antiquities,  Roman,  7,  8,  10. 

Aquee-Calidse,  and  Aquse-Solis,   ancient  names 

of  Bath,  7. 
Arms  of  Bath,  mistake  concerning,  30,  note. 
Athelstan,  his  grants  to  Bath,  14. 

Baker,  W.,  Bishop,  memoir  of,  91. 

Bamfylde,  C.  W.,  119. 

Barnes,  Barth.,  epitaph  on,  72. 

Bates,  Ely,  epitaph  on,  76  ;  memoir  of,  118. 

Bath,  its  origin  and  early  history,  1 — 9 ;  ety- 
mology of  the  name,  7  ;  Roman  Temple,  8 ; 
subjugated  by  the  Saxons,  11 ;  Abbey  founded, 


12;  taken  by  the  Danes,  14,  note;  plun- 
dered, 17 ;  made  a  Bishop's  See,  18 ; 
granted  to  Bishop  Villula,  ib. ;  burnt,  22  ; 
surrendered  to  Rich.  Coeur  de  Lion,  24 ;  leased 
to  the  Prior,  and  given  to  the  see  of  Bath  and 
Wells,  26 ;  general  description  of,  48  ;  arms, 
56,  note. 

Bath  and  Wells,  Bishop  of,  when  first  so  called, 
22. 

Baths  at  Bath,  their  legendary  origin,  2. 

Roman,  described,  65,  66. 

Bave,  Dr.  Samuel,  memoir  of,  88. 

Beauvoir,  Dr.  Os.,  memoir  of,  106. 

Bellingham,  John,  his  tomb,  55. ' 

Bellott,  Thomas,  repaired  the  Church,  40 ; 
anecdote  of,  42. 

Bells,  ringing  of,  at  Bath,  dispute  concerning,  28. 

Bimberries,  or  St.  Cath.  Hos.  31. 

Birde,  Prior,  assists  in  rebuilding  the  Church, 
35,  36 ;  confounded  with  Prior  Hollewaye, 
alias  Gybbs,  37,  note;  his  arms,  47;  his 
chapel,  62 ;  described,  63. 

Bladud,  his  legendary  history,  5. 

Bowles,  John,  memoir  of,  137. 

Broome,  Dr.  Wm.,  memoir  of,  93. 

Burleigh,  Lord,  40. 

Cantlow,  P.,  his  arms,  47. 

Cecill,  R.,  Earl  of  Salisbury,  40. 

Chapman,  Peter,  repairs  Church,  39. 

Clements,  William,  epitaph  on,  76. 

Cloppecote,  Robt.,  oppresses  the  monks,  27. 

Coal,  fossil,  first  used  in  Britain,  9. 

Coffins,  stone,  found  at  Bath,  46. 

Coins,  Roman,  found  at  Bath,   8  ;  also  Saxon, 

46. 
Cole,  Agnes,  persecuted  by  the  monks,  for  free 

speaking,  30. 
Colles,  Humph.,  buys  the  Priory  estates,  31. 
Colthurst,  Ed.,  gives  the  Abbey  Church  to  the 

city,  39. 

Danes,  appear  on  the  English  coast;  destroy  the 

Abbey  Church,  18. 
Derrick,  Sam.,  memoir  of,  102. 
Draper,  Sir  Wm.,  his  epitaph,  79 ;  memoir  of, 

105. 


INDEX. 


153 


Drokensford,  John  de,  Bishop,  32. 

Druids  and  Druidical  Temple,  3. 

Dunstan,  Archbp.,  ejects  the  secular  clergy,  15. 

Edington,  or  TEthandune,  14. 

Edgar,  King,  crowned  at  Bath,  13. 

Edward  I.  annexes  the  City  to  the  See  of  Bath, 

27. 
VI.  grants  part  of  the  Prior's  lands  to  the 

Corporation,  31. 
Edwy,  King,  his  grants  to  Bath  monastery,  14. 
Elizabeth,  Queen,  visits  Bath,  40. 
Elphege,  or  Elphegus,  abbot,  15. 
Epitaphs,  Essay  on,  with  particular  reference  to 

Bath  Abbey,  68—83. 
;  on  Jane  Blayney,  70;  Bartholomew 

Barnes,  72  ;   Rev.   J.  Honeywood,  ib. ;    John 

Wally,  73  ;    Walter  Ernele,  ib. ;    Lady  Jane 

Waller,    74;     Mary    Frampton,  ib ;     James 

Quin,  75;     William   Clements,   76;     Sarah 

Fielding,    ib. ;     Elizabeth    Honeywood,    ib. ; 

Ely  Bates,  ib. ;    Lady  Miller,  77  ;    Thomas 

Martyn,  78  ;    Sir  William  Draper,  79  ;  J.  A. 

Migliovaccio,    ib. ;     William    Melmoth,   80 ; 

Dr.  C.  H.  Parry,  80;    Dr.  J.  Sibthorp,  81; 

Dr.  A.   Maclaine,  ib. ;    Dr.  Harington,  ib. ; 

Rebecca  Leyborne,  82  ;    Col.  A.  Norton,  ib. ; 

Eliz.    N.    Webb,  83;     Richard    Nash,   ib. ; 

Thos.  Guidott,  91  ;   Dr.  Parry,  133  ;    Archd. 

Thomas,  128. 

Fielding,  Sarah,  her  epitaph,  76 ;  memoir  of, 
101. 

Fire,  perpetual,  at  Bath,  8. 

Fitz-Joceline,  Bishop,  privileged  to  keep  sporting- 
dogs,  23. 

Floyd,  103,  note. 

Freemasonry,  office  of,  37,  note. 

Geoffrey,  of  Monmouth,  vindicated,  5. 

Glanvill,  Jos.,  memoir  of,  135. 

Glastonbury  Abbey,  annexed  to  the  See  of  Bath 

and  Wells,  24 ;  surrender  of  manors,  24 ;  Bath 

and  Glastonbury  See,  ib. 
Godfrey,  Bishop,  21. 
Guidott,  Dr.,  memoir  of,  88. 

Hadrian,  Bishop  of  Bath,  deceived  by  a  Witch, 
33. 

Harington,  Sir  John,  his  account  of  Bishop 
King's  Vision,  33 ;  and  various  particulars 
relating  to  the  Abbey  Church,  33—37 — 40. 

Dr.  Henry,  memoir  of,  118. 

Harmonic  Society  at  Bath,  established,  120. 

Haweis,  Dr.  T.,  memoir  of,  124. 

Henry  de  Solis,  Bishop  of  Worcester,  23. 

Heytesbury,  arms  of,  47,  note. 

Holleweye,  alias  Gybbs,  Prior,  28 ;    surrenders 


his    Monastery,  29 ;     poetical    account    of, 
36. 

Howlett,  Rev.  John,  109. 
Hungerfords,  their  arms,  47,  note. 

Joceline    de  Wells,  Bishop,  24  ;     his    hunting 

establishment,  25. 
John  de  Iford,   or  Yford,    Prior,    deprived   for 

adultery,  28. 
Jorden,  Dr.  Edward,  memoir  of,  86. 
Junius,  remarks  on,  106. 

King,  Bishop  Oliver,  account  of,  32 ;  burial 
place,  33,  note;  his  vision,  34;  rebuilds  the 
Abbey  Church,  35  ;  decease,  38. 

Leland,  his  account  of  the  origin  of  Bath  Abbey 
Church,  13  ;  referred  to,  16—19,  29—35— 
37—39. 

Lidgate,  John,  his  poetical  account  of  the  Baths 
at  Bath,  6. 

Lychfield,  Sarcophagus  for,  55. 

Lysons,  his  account  of  Roman  Antiquities,  10. 

Maclaine,  Dr.  Archibald,  epitaph  on,  81 ;  memoir 

of,  109. 
Mallet,  D.,  his  letter  to  Derrick,  102. 
Malmsbury,  W.  of,  14—16—18—20. 
Manvers,  Earl,  landlord  of  Abbey  estate,  39 — 45. 
Maplet,  John,  Dr.,  memoir  of,  88. 
Melmoth,  William,memoir  of,  108. 
Mendip,  its  mines,  43. 
Meyler,  W.,  memoir  of,  125. 
Miller,  Lady,  memoir  of,  104. 
Minerva,  ancient  temple  of,  8 ;    its   origin  and 

history,  9. 
Montague,  Bishop,  James,  40  ;  repairs  the  Abbey 

Church,  41 — 43;  his   arms,  56;    tomb,  62; 

memoir  of,  85 ;  epitaph,  86. 

Nash,  Richard,  his  epitaph,  83,  note ;  memoir 
of,   94. 

Nunnery,  founded  at  Bath,  12;  its  early  Ab- 
besses and  History,  13. 

Offa,  King,  said  to  have  founded  Bath  Church, 

12. 
Oliver,  Dr.  William,  his  lines  on  Ralph  Thick  - 

nesse,  92  ;  memoir  of,  98. 
Dr.  W.,  sen.,  memoir  of,  9 1 . 

Palace,  Bishop's,  built  at  Bath,  21. 
Palmer,  John,  memoir  of,  121. 
Parry,  Dr.  C.  H.,  memoir  of,  129. 
Pelling,  Rev.  John,  44—134. 
Porter,  Walsh,  83  ;  memoir,  113. 
Postlethwaite,  Dr.  Thomas,  107. 


154 


INDEX. 


Pownall,  Thomas,  memoir,  110. 
Priors  of  Bath,  25—31. 
Prior  park  sold,  39. 

Quiii,  James,  epitaph  on,  75  ;  memoir  of,  99. 

Rauzzini,  Signor,  memoir  of,  114. 
Relics,  "  precious"  assemblage  of,  17. 
Robert,  Bishop,  his  gifts,  22  ;  his  decree,  ib. 
Roger,  Bishop,  account  of,  25. 

Savaric,  Bishop,  annexes  Glastonbury  Abbey  to 
Bath  Abbey  Church,  23  ;  his  epitaph,  24. 

Saxons,  their  treachery,  1 1 . 

Shadwell,  Sir  John,  memoir  of,  93. 

Sibthorp,  Dr.  John,  epitaph,  81 ;  monument, 
83;  memoir  of,  108. 

Skurray,  Rev.  J.,  extract  from  his  sermon,  44. 

Stanton-Drew,  a  Druidical  temple,  3. 

Still,  Bishop,  43,  note. 

Stubbe,  Henry,  memoir  of,  136. 

Sutton,  Mr.,  appeal  to,  to  repair  the  Abbey,  42. 


Thicknesse,  Rev.  R.,  memoir  of,  92. 
Thomas,  Rev.  Archd".,  lines  on  Dr.  Harington, 
120;  memoir  of,  128. 

Venner,  Tobias,  Dr.,  memoir  of,  87. 
Villula,  Bishop  John  de,  18—21. 

Wall,  Dr.  John,  memoir  of,  104. 

Waller,  Sir  William,  and  Lady,  their  effigies,  55. 

Walsh,.  Col.  Robert,  83. 

Weaving  of  woollen  cloth  introduced  at  Bath, 

30. 
Wells  Cathedral,  West  Front  rebuilt,  25. 
Wells,   See  of,  purchased,  1 8  ;  disputes  between 

the  Sees,  22  ;   separation  by  Act  of  Parliament 

from  Bath,  51. 
Whitaker,  Rev.  John,  investigates  the  history  of 

Bath,  9—46. 
Wood,  his  Visionary  account  of  Bath,  2 — 40; 

his  description  of  the  Abbey  Church,  52, 

Zea,  Don  F.  A.,  memoir  of,  134. 


ANECDOTES   OF  BATH. 


The  investigations  which  appeared  to  the  author  to  be  necessary  for  the  present  work  have  been 
numerous  and  extensive.  The  labour  consequently  has  been  very  considerable,  but  it  has  been 
amply  compensated  by  the  amusement  and  information  derived  from  the  various  sources  resorted 
to.  Few  persons  are  aware  that  the  books,  pamphlets,  and  maps,  relating  to  Bath,  exceed 
fifty  in  numb'er.  Besides  two  folios,  there  are  three  or  four  quartos,  several  in  octavo,  some 
of  which  are  of  large  size,  and  many  of  smaller  forms.  Most  of  these  publications  are  referred 
to,  in  the  notes  of  the  present  volume ;  but  some  of  them,  having  no  relation  to  the  Abbey, 
are  not  noticed.  It  was  the  author's  intention  to  have  given  a  Catalogue  Raisonne  of  all  these 
publications,  and  he  had  carefully  prepared  a  manuscript,  which  was  destroyed  at  the  printer's 
when  his  premises,  with  all  their  contents,  were  consumed  by  fire  in  August  last.  Not  having  an 
opportunity  to  arrange  another  list,  at  present,  he  defers  its  publication  until  a  more  convenient 
season. 

In  preparing  the  present  volume,  numerous  anecdotes  and  memoranda  have  been  collected, 
relative  to  the  City  of  Bath,  its  history,  buildings,  fashions,  inmates,  visitors,  &c.  &c,  most  of 
which  appear  calculated  to  excite  much  interest ;  and  the  author  now  proposes  to  publish  another 
volume  of  corresponding  size  to  the  present,  (in  which  the  list  alluded  to  will  be  included,)  under 
the  title  of 

.    ANECDOTES, 

BIOGRAPHICAL,  TOPOGRAPHICAL,  LITERARY,  ARCHITECTURAL,  AND  MISCELLANEOUS, 

RELATING  IO 

BATH  AND    ITS  VICINITY. 

Under  such  a  title,  and  coming  within  the  scope  of  one  or  more  of  these  classes,  may  be  intro- 
duced many  curious  facts  and  narratives  immediately  connected  with  this  city.  Devoid  of  private 
scandal,  and  free  from  every  invidious  and  ill-natured  reflection,  such  a  work  will  afford  ample 
scope  for  the  satirist,  and  supply  materials  of  great  interest  to  the  historian  and  the  biographer. 
Although  Bath,  for  a  long  series  of  years,  has  continued  to  be  the  winter  rendezvous  of  gamblers, 
fortune-hunters,  idlers,  and  triflers,  it  has  likewise  been  honored  and  dignified  by  the  residence 
of  many  persons  of  worth,  integrity,  and  talent.  If  it  has  occasionally  presented  "  Characters" 
and  caricatures  for  the  pencil  of  a  Peter  Pallet,   it  has  also    nurtured  and  protected  many  of 


156  ANECDOTES   OF  BATH. 

those   sons   and   daughters  of  genius,   whose   exemplary   lives  and   meritorious  productions   have 
alike  conferred  honor  upon  their  native  city,  and  ennobled  their  own  character. 

Any  hints  or  information  applicable  to  the  subject,  and  calculated  to  elucidate  the  history  of 
Bath,  or  the  memoirs  of  its  more  eminent  inhabitants,  will  tend  to  expedite  the  proposed  work,  and 
will  greatly  oblige  the  author.  He  wishes  it,  however,  to  be  distinctly  understood,  that  he  does  not 
pledge  himself  to  complete  this  volume  within  any  given  time,  nor  will  he  bind  himself  even  to 
publish  it  at  all :  he  only  intimates  that  Le  has  some  curious  materials,  that  they  are  susceptible 
of  being  formed  into  an  amusing  and  even  interesting  publication  of  Topographical  Anecdotes,  &c, 
and  that  he  may  be  tempted  to  give  them  "  a  local  habitation  and  a  name,"  if  assisted  and 
encouraged  by  those  Bathonians  who  have  the  means  "to  aid,  and  may  feel  anxious  to  promote, 
a  literary  work  of  the  description  here  announced. 


THE  END. 


tONDON: — PRINT  BD  BV  J.  MOVES,  £Ol  VHI11K  S7REET. 


9T&0U  met  tyia  magstrie  of  a  fniman  fjatrti , 
2T|»e  prise  of  JBriatotoe  anB  tj>c  affiles  tern  Rant), 


on 

MtMittt    €i)Utci)y 
CSomag  CjjatteMom 

Stag,  curgou0  traveller,  ant)  pass  not  fcpe, 
fflntill  flbis  fetibea  pile  a«tountieb  tbine  ege* 
JKBbole  rocfis  on  rocfis  toitb  gron  joint),  surbete 
3nD  ofics  toitf)  o&ts  entremeti0  Di0poneDd  fie* 
3£gri0  migfttic  pile,  tbat  ficeps  tbe  tognties  at  bate 
jFgre*lebgne  anti  ti>e  moftie f  0totme  Defie, 
"STfjat  sbootcs  aloofe  into  tfje  teaulmes  of  Sate 
Sball  be  tbe  rccorD  of  tf?e  Burets  fame  for  ate. 

3Tbou  0ee0t  tbf  0  mag0trtc  of  a  buman  giant), 
3T£>e  price  of  TBrgototoe  anti  tfje  fJHesteme  lantie, 
J?et  is  tbe  Eugiticw  bcrtues  tnucft  tnoe  greete, 
(Steetet  tban  can  bie  ffiotolies  pen  be  oeantoe. 
3Tbou  0ee0t  tbe  sagncteo  ant)  Ignises  in  0tonen  state, 
3Ebat  0eemti  toitb  breatb  ant)  buman  soule  tiiepanDe,  s 
S0  pagrue h  to  110  enseen  tbeoe  men  of  state, 
Sue!;  is  ureete  Sangnce'0  mgnt)  toben  pagtti  to  (Sot)  elate, 

3HelI  maiest  tbou  be  aotounti,  but  bieto  it  toelf ; 
&o  not  from  jpence  befote  tbou  see  tbg  fill, 
9nt)  team  tbe  Buimet's  uertues  anti  bis  name , 
2Df  tbis  tall  0pgte  in  eberg  counttge  telle, 
8nti  toitb  tbg  tale  tbe  lajints !  rgcb  men  sbame  j 
Sbotoe  bone  tbe  Glorious  eiangnae  DiD  ejccelle ; 
Sjoto  bee  coot)  man  a  fiient  for  fignaes  became, 
Snt)  olorgous  pabeD  at  once  it>t  toag  to  beaben  anti  fame. 


a  Elegant.       b  astonish.       « intermixed.       d  disposed.       '  lightning. 
f  gloomy.       e  expanded.       "  compared.       '  inactive. 


AN 

HISTORICAL  AND  ARCHITECTURAL  ESSAY 


RELATING    TO 


ftetrcltffe  Cfmrcj), 


BRISTOL: 


ILLUSTRATED   WITH 


PLANS,  VIEWS,  AND  ARCHITECTURAL  DETAILS 


INCLUDINB 


8n  Account  of  tje  fflonummts. 

AND 

ANECDOTES  OF  THE  EMINENT  PERSONS  INTERRED  WITHIN  ITS  WALLS; 

ALSO,   AN   ESSAY  ON 
THE   LIFE   AND    CHARACTER    OF   THOMAS    CHATTERTON. 

By  J.  BRITTON,  F.S.A. 


"  What  wondrous  monumente !  What  pyle  ys  thys  ? 
That  bynds  in  wonders  chayne  entendemente ! 
That  doth  aloof  the  ayrie  skyen  kiss, 
And  seemeth  mountaynesjoyned  by  cemente, 
From  Godde  hys  greete  and  wondrous  storehouse  sente." 

Chatterton. 


lUmtiott: 

PRINTED    FOR  IOKGMAN,  HURST,   REES,  ORME, AND  BROWN,  PATERNOSTER-ROW;   J.  TAYLOR,  HIGH- 
HOLBORN;     AND  THE  AUTHOR,  TAVISTOCK  PLACE. 

SOLD  BY  BARRY,  BROWN,  BULGIN,  ELLISTON,  NORTON  AND  SON,  SHEPPARD,  AND  PECKOVER,  AT  BRISTOL; 
ALSO  BY  BARRATT,  GODWIN,  OPHAM,  AND    MEYLER  AND  SON,  AT  BATH. 

1813. 


Printed  by  T.  Bensley, 
Bolt  Court,  Fleet  Street,  London. 


TO 

CHARLES  JOSEPH  HARFORD,  ESQ.  F.S.A. 

Dear  Sir, 

I  have  much  pleasure  in  dedicating  this  volume 
to  you,  because  you  have  manifested,  on  many  occasions, 
a  laudable  and  zealous  attachment  to  archaeological  lite- 
rature generally,  and  to  the  antiquities  of  your  native  city 
in  particular.  Among  the  public  edifices  of  Bristol  there 
is  no  one  more  celebrated  than  Redcljffe  Church. 
Chatterton  has  enrolled  its  name  in  the  annals  of  poetry 
and  of  critical  literature;  and  the  beauties  and  pecu- 
liarities of  its  architecture  have  long  attracted  the  admi- 
ration of  the  antiquary,  and  artist,  and  indeed  of  every 
person  of  taste  and  science.  As  a  whole  it  is  grand  and 
imposing,  and  its  details  are  curious,  beautiful,  and  ele- 
gant. To  display  these  characteristics,  and  elucidate  the 
history  of  the  building,  is  the  express  object  of  this 
volume,  which  is  inscribed  to  you,  with  feelings  of  re- 
spect, and  very  sincere  pleasure^ 

BY 

The  Author. 
July  1813;  a 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 


Page 

Lines  on  Redcliffe  Church,  by  Chatterton  : — Dedication v 

Introductory  Preface vii 

CHAP.  1 1 

Utility  of  Antiquarian  Investigations.— Redcliffe  Church  is  highly  curious,  beautiful,  and  interest- 
ing.— Historical  particulars  respecting  it. — Conjectures  concerning  the  dates  of  different  parts. 

CHAP  II 8 

Description  of  the  Church ;  with  reference  to  the  accompanying  prints. 

Plate  I.    Ground  Plan   10 

II.    Plan  of  the  North  Porch 12 

III.  Exterior  View  of  the  Church  from  the  south-east 13 

IV.    View  of  the  East  End   14 

V View  of  the  South  Porch 14 

VI View  of  the  Tower  14 

VII View  of  the  North  Porch  14 

VIII.    Interior  View  of  the  Nave    14 

IX View  of  the  South  Transept 15 

X View  of  the  North  Aile   15 

XI Door-way  and  Skreen  to  the  North  Porch    15 

XII Details — Door- way,  Windows,  &c.   1 6 

CHAP.  Ill 17 

Account  of  the  monuments,  and  anecdotes  of  persons  interred  in  the  church. — Lamyngton,  17 : 
Simon  de  Burton,  17:  Wm.  Canynge,  18  j  and  extract  from  the  church  register  respecting 
him :  William  Coke,  21 :  John  Bleaker,  22 :  John  Brook,  22 :  John  Jay,  22 :  Thomas 
Mede,  22  :  Philip  Mede,  23  .  Mrs.  Fortune  Little,  23  :  Sir  John  Inyn,  24 :  Everardus  le 
French,  24  :  Thomas  Young,  24  :  Rev.  Thomas  Broughton,  24  :  William  Barrett,  25  :  Sir 
William  Penn,  25. 

CHAP.  IV * 26 

Painted  Glass,  26. — Church  Furniture,  27. — Cross,  28. — Paintings,  28.— Thunder  Storm,  2g. 

CHAP.  V 30 

An  Essay  on  the  life,  character,  and  writings  of  Chatterton,  30.— Monody  by  Dermody,  37.— 
Letters  by  Chatterton  to  Dodsley,  39. 


INTRODUCTORY  PREFACE. 


Having  purchased  several  drawings  of  Redcliffe  Church,  it  was  my  inten- 
tion to  have  them  engraved  for  the  Architectural  Antiquities ;  but  after  ma- 
ture deliberation,  I  was  induced  to  appropriate  them  to  a  separate  and  com- 
plete publication.  In  this  I  was.  also  tempted  to  enter  more  fully  into  the 
illustration  of  the  building,  and  to  comprehend  a  more  extensive  field  of  dis- 
quisition than  at  first  I  had  intended,  or  than  is  usual  in  the  general  work. 
This  volume  is  therefore  now  submitted  to  the  public,  in  its  present  form  and 
style,  with  no  small  degree  of  anxiety ;  for  though  success  generally  inspires 
confidence,  and  often  presumption,  I  own  that  I  feel  more  than  usual  solici- 
tude concerning  the  reception  which  the  present  work  may  experience  with  its 
varied  classes  of  readers.  To  make  it  amusing,  or  interesting  to  the  uninitiated 
antiquary,  I  have  endeavoured  to  adapt  my  sentiments  and  style  of  writing  to 
the  peculiar  character  of  the  edifice,  and  to  the  poetical  associations  with 
which  it  is  connected.  For  that  mind  must  be  dull  and  cold  indeed,  which 
can  remain  perfectly  tranquil  and  unwarmed,  after  surveying  the  one,  and  re- 
flecting on  the  other.  "  Far  from  me,  and  far  from  my  friends,"  as  Dr.  John- 
son observes,  "  be  such  frigid  philosophy,  as  may  conduct  us  indifferent  and 
unmoved  over  any  ground  which  has  been  dignified  by  wisdom,  bravery,  or 
virtue.  That  man  is  little  to  be  envied,  whose  patriotism  would  not  gain 
force  upon  the  plains  of  Marathon,  or  whose  piety  would  not  grow  warmer 
among  the  ruins  of  Iona."* 

If  the  plains  of  Marathon,  and  the  ruins  of  Iona,  be  calculated  to  stimu- 
late curiosity,  and  awaken  rational  and  pleasing  reflections,  I  am  persuaded 
that  the  edifice,  which  we  are  about  to  investigate,  must  also  be  entitled  to 

*  Journey  to  tbe  Western  Islands. 
a  2 


Vlll  PREFACE. 

more  than  common  notice.  Indeed,  it  cannot  fail  to  claim  from  the  genuine 
antiquary,  and  tasteful  critic,  much  of  diligent  inquiry,  and  unmixed  admira- 
tion. In  reviewing  the  history  of  an  ancient  edifice,  we  are  imperceptibly  led 
into  the  company  of  venerable  personages  long  since  departed ; — we  are  car- 
ried back  to  remote  ages,  and  shewn  distant  events,  over  which  Time  has 
spread  its  obscuring  veil. — These  pursuits  are  not  merely  amusing  to  the 
fancy,  but  may  be  rendered  useful  and  instructive.  "  Whatever,"  says  the  elo- 
quent author  just  quoted,  "  withdraws  us  from  the  power  of  our  senses, 
whatever  makes  the  past,  the  distant,  and  the  future,  predominate  over  the 
present,  advances  us  in  the  dignity  of  thinking  beings."  Thus,  by  contem- 
plating, and  analyzing  the  best  works  of  others,  we  may  acquire  wisdom :  and 
it  is  universally  admitted,  that  the  grand  ecclesiastical  edifices  of  this  country, 
were  executed  by  men  highly  skilled  in  mathematical  and  geometrical  know- 
ledge. Science  is  unanimously  conceded  to  them;  but  their  claims  to  taste 
are  not  so  generally  admitted.  On  this  point  the  most  accomplished  scholars 
and  critics  differ  in  opinion.  Many  contend,  that  beauty,  grace,  elegance, 
and  sublimity  of  architecture,  is  only  to  be  found  in  Grecian  edifices;  whilst 
others  admit,  that  some  of  these  characteristics  belong  also  to  Roman  build- 
ings ;  but  they  will  not  allow  that  any  thing  approaching  to  tastefulness,  pro- 
priety, or  harmony,  is  to  be  found  in  "the  Gothic"  structures  of  the  middle  ages. 
The  partial  admirers  of  the  latter  also,  are  too  generally  as  indiscriminating, 
and  intemperate  in  their  panegyrics  on  one  species  of  architecture,  at  the 
expense  of  the  other ;  and  thus  contention  and  opposition  are  excited.  Con- 
troversy is  produced,  and  it  too  generally  happens  that  controversial  writers 
rather  advocate  an  hypothesis,  than  calmly  and  dispassionately  endeavour  to 
substantiate  fact,  and  elucidate  mystery.* 


*  Since  Bentham  wrote  his  History  of  Ely  Cathedral,  A.  D.  177 1,  in  which  he  endeavoured  to 
prove,  that  the  remains  of  the  Conventual  Church  in  that  city,  are  of  Saxon  architecture,  "  founded  in 
673,"  many  volumes  and  essays  have  been  published  concerning  the  criteria  of  Saxon  and  Norman 
architecture,  the  origin  of  the  pointed  arch,  and  the  country  in  which  this  was  first  adopted.  Warton, 
Gray,  Grose,  Milner,  Whitaker,  Hall,  Whittington,  Millers,  Sayers,  Dallaway,  Hawkins,  Carter, 
Englefield,  Lysons,  Kerrich,  Wilkins,  t)utens,  King,  Haggitt,  and  others,  have  all  employed  their  pens, 
either  in  this  controversy,  or  on  the  subject :  and  to  some  of  these  gentlemen  we  are  indebted  for  much 
substantial  information. 

In  the  "Architectural  Antiquities"  which  I  am  now  publishing,  and  in  the  "  Cathedral  Antiquities*' 
preparing,  almost  every  class  and  style  of  ecclesiastical,  domestic,  and  castellated  architecture,  will  be 


PREFACE.  IX 

The  present  volume  has  been  long  announced  to  the  public,  and  some 
persons  have  made  repeated  inquiries  after  it.  Various  circumstances  have 
conspired  to  occasion  delay  :  but  these  are  all  of  a  public  and  literary  nature. 
Zealously  attached  to  antiquarian  investigations,  and  embellished  works,  I 
often  find  my  inclinations  carry  me  beyond  the  line  of  discretion  and  pru- 
dence :  I  eagerly  commence  a  new  publication,  and  am  equally  eager  to  per- 
form my  voluntary  task  with  credit  to  myself,  and  at  the  same  time  satisfy 
the  reasonable  expectations  of  my  reader.  Thus  I  have  entailed  on  myself 
an  excess  of  labour  and  anxiety  which  have  injured  my  health,  and  subjected 
me  to  some  reprehension.  In  accomplishing  the  present  little  volume,  I  have 
encountered  more  than  ordinary  expenses  and  trouble :  and  though  it  is  not 
equal  to  my  wishes,  yet  I  hope  that  its  best  parts  will  merit  the  approbation 
of  the  critical  reader;  and  whatever  he  may  detect  as  errors  of  judgment  or 
taste,  he  will  have  the  generosity  to  pass  over  with  lenity. 

To  the  following  literary  friends  and  correspondents  I  have  been  much 
obliged  for  communications  and  information  in  the  progress  of  the  work; 
and  beg  they  will  accept  my  sincere  thanks : 

The  Rev.  Martin  Richard  Whish,  M.  A.  the  vicar  of  Redcliffe,  for 
indulgently  allowing  me  access  to  the  registers,  and  for  extracts  from  one 
relating  to  Canynge. 

To  Joseph  Haslewood,  Esq.  who  has  collected  almost  every  book, 
pamphlet,  and  paper  that  has  been  printed  respecting  the  Chattertonian  con- 
troversy, I  am  indebted  for  the  two  letters  printed  at  the  end  of  this  volume, 
and  for  the  free  use  of  his  Archaeological  collection. 

To  Philip  Bliss,  Esq.  of  St.  John's  College,  Oxford,  and  the  Rev. 
Bulkeley  Bandinel,  M.  A.  and  F.S.A.  of  Trinity  College,  I  am  obliged  for 
the  communication  of  some  extracts  from,  and  access  to,  that  invaluable  lite- 
rary repository,  the  Bodleian  Library. 

The  late  Thomas  Eagles,  Esq.  F. S.  A.  who  had  critically  watched  the 
controversy  about  Rowley,  was  personally  acquainted  with  nearly  all  the  wri- 
ters, who  first  published  the  quarto  pamphlet  of  Sir  Charles  Bawdin,  and 
whose  literary  stores  in  printed  books  and  MSS.  were  choice  and  valuable, 

carefully  delineated ;  and  from  the  various  specimens  and  facts  adduced,  with  the  accompanying  descrip- 
tions and  elucidations,  it  is  hoped  that  the  controverted  points,  above  noticed,  will  be  settled,  and  the 
history  and  principles  of  ancient  English  Architecture  will  be  clearly  established. 


X  PREFACE. 

obliged  me  with  some  interesting  letters  on  the  subject.  He  eagerly  con- 
tended for  the  authenticity  of  the  poems ;  and  often  expressed  an  intention  of 
publishing  his  opinions  and  arguments  on  the  subject: 

To  Charles  Joseph  Harford,  Esq.  F.  S.  A.  I  am  indebted  for  much 
personal  civility,  and  for  the  zeal  he  took  in  promoting  my  inquiries  at  Bristol. 
His  friend, 

The  Rev.  Samuel  Seyer,  M.  A.  who  has  recently  published  the  Charters, 
&c.  of  Bristol,  and  thereby  conferred  a  distinguished  favour  on  the  citizens, 
and  on  the  public,  obliged  me  with  ready  and  frank  replies  to  my  queries.  It 
is  hoped  this  gentleman  will  proceed  immediately  with  his  History  and  Anti- 
quities of  Bristol. 

To  Granville  Penn,  Esq.  I  am  indebted  for  some  authentic  memoranda 
respecting  Admiral  Penn  :  but  am  sorry  to  say  that  they  have  been  mislaid, 
or  lost,  and  therefore  could  not  be  used  on  the  present  occasion.  Should 
another  edition  of  this  volume  be  demanded,  I  hope  to  make  some  amends  for 
this  omission.  In  the  mean  time  the  reader  is  referred  to  Mr.  Clarkson's  in- 
teresting "  Memoirs  of  the  private  and  public  Life  of  William  Penn,"  2  vols. 
8vo.  1813, 

Thomas  Park,  Esq.  F.S.A.  ever  zealous  in  the  cause  of  archaeological 
and  poetical  literature,  readily  assisted  my  inquiries  respecting  the  paper 
about  church  furniture :  as  did  also 

Lady  Millman,  a  relative  of  Mr.  Browning's,  in  whose  collection  this 
document  was  found. 

The  Rev.  T.  D.  Fosbrooke,  author  of  "  British  Monachism,"  obligingly 
sent  me  several  memorandums  respecting  Redcliffe,  and  Chatterton. 

To  Robert  Southey,  Esq.  who  voluntarily  undertook  to  edit  the  three 
volumes  of  Chatterton's  Works,  from  benevolent  motives,  I  am  obliged  for  an 
interesting  letter  about  Redcliffe  and  Chatterton.  He  remarks  that  "  the  old 
ceremony  of  strewing  the  church  on  Palm  Sunday,  is  still  observed  there." 
Respecting  the  Rowleian  question,  he  says,  "  Ever  since  I  had  the  slightest 
acquaintance  with  old  English  literature,  I  was  perfectly  convinced  that  it 
was  impossible  the  poems  could  be  genuine.  I  will,  however,  mention  one 
decisive  argument,  which  I  owe  to  a  friend.  The  little  fac  simile  of  Canynge's 
feast  contains  manifest  proofs  that  the  hand- writing  is  forged;  for  the  letter  e 
is  written  in  eighteen  or  twenty  different  ways. — Now  also  there  can  be  no 
impropriety  in  mentioning  that  there  was  a  trait  of  insanity  in  the  family. 


PREFACE.  XI 

His  sister  was  once  confined ;  and  this  is  a  key  to  the  eccentricities  of  his  life, 
and  to  the  deplorable  rashness  of  his  death.  At  one  time  he  was  a  great 
coxcomb  in  his  dress." — Of  this  extraordinary  youth  Mr.  Park  thus  speaks: 
"  Chatterton  was  a  phenomenon  of  nature  and  art ;  an  enigma  of  genius ;  and 
he  seemed  to  have  breathed  in  an  atmosphere  of  mystery." 

At  the  end  of  this  volume  I  have  been  induced  to  offer  a  few  remarks 
on  the  character  and  talents  of  Chatterton,  because  there  are  still  persons  of 
learning  who  advocate  the  antiquity  of  his  poems ;  and  who  found  their  chief 
arguments  on  his  incompetency  to  their  composition.  Dr.  Sherwen,  in  a  se- 
parate pamphlet  on  the  subject,  also  in  the  Gentleman's  Magazine ;  and  the 
Rev.  Dr.  Symmons,  in  the  "  London  Review,"  have  exerted  much  ingenuity 
of  argument,  and  displayed  considerable  literary  knowledge  in  behalf  of  the 
ancient,  and  against  the  modern  poet.  Yet  the  latter  Gentleman  asserts,  that 
if  Chatterton  "  was  the  creator  of  the  poems  attributed  to  Rowley,  it  must 
be  confessed,  that  the  posthumous  honours  which  have  been  offered  to  him, 
are  as  yet  inadequate  to  the  claims  of  his  genius ;  and  that  we  must  still  exert 
ourselves  for  expressions  to  impart  our  full  sense  of  those  intellectual  powers 
which  appear  so  greatly  to  transcend  the  accustomed  liberality  of  Providence 
in  its  intercourse  with  man."  Dr.  Sherwen's  remarks  are  nearly  to  the  same 
effect.  Though  the  most  profound  critics,  and  almost  every  reader  is  willing 
to  allow  such  extraordinary  merit  to  the  poems,  yet  the  collected  edition, 
printed  in  3  vols.  1803,  has  not  yet  passed  into  a  second  edition.  It  is  hoped 
that  public  curiosity  may  be  again  excited  towards  these  poems ;  and  instead 
of  raising  a  stone  monument  to  the  memory  of  the  bard,  I  would  wish  to  see 
his  works  printed  in  a  popular  form.  No  memorial  can  be  more  appropriate 
to  an  author  than  a  handsome  edition  of  his  works;  and  more  especially  when 
these  are  extensively  circulated. 

To  Hewson  Clarke,  Esq.  I  am  obliged  for  some  judicious  observations 
on  the  character  of  Chatterton.  The  criticisms  of  this  gentleman  are  gene- 
rally acute  and  profound:  it  is  hoped  that  he  will  speedily  execute  his  long 
projected  work,  "  a  continuation  of  Johnson's  Lives  of  the  Poets." 

To  Dr.  Goldwyer,  Mr.  Isaac  James,  Mr.  Gutch,  Edward  Bird, 
Esq.   Mr.  Barry,  jun.  of  Bristol,  I  have  to  return  thanks,  for  many  acts  of 


XII  PREFACE. 


personal  civility,  and  replies  to  letters  of  inquiry,  &c;  also  to  Mr.  R.  Webb, 
and  to  Mrs.  Perrin  the  sexton.  It  is  but  justice  to  the  latter  to  say,  that  she 
manifests  a  very  laudable,  and  unusual  regard  for  the  fine  church  committed 
to  her  charge. 


HISTORY 


OF 


REDCLIFFE  CHURCH. 


CHAP.  I. 


Utility  of  Antiquarian  Investigations — Redcliffe  Church  is  highly  curious,  beau- 
tiful, and  interesting — Historical  particulars  respecting  it — Conjectures  con- 
cerning the  dates  of  different  parts. 

X  HE  study  of  antiquities,  after  being  long  regarded  as  the  occupation  of 
plodding  dulness,  or  frivolous  curiosity,  has  at  length  attained  its  due  im- 
portance in  the  estimation  of  the  public ;  and  is  now  the  object  of  assiduous 
cultivation  in  the  literary  and  polished  circles  of  society.  That  a  pursuit, 
indeed,  which,  while  it  contributes  to  the  elucidation  and  embellishment  of 
every  other  department  of  literature,  possesses  within  itself  the  most  copi- 
ous sources  of  mental  pleasure,  and  while  it  tends  to  gratify  the  ardour  of 
a  poetical  imagination,  and  give  precision  and  variety  to  the  page  of  history, 
should  have  been,  at  one  period  of  English  literature,  the  constant  theme  of 
moral  and  humorous  satire,  must  be  imputed  to  the  abuse  of  an  useful  and 
important  study,  rather  than  to  the  insensibility  of  our  wits  and  moralists 
to  its  dignity  and  value  when  properly  pursued. 

I  flatter  myself  that  in  the  selection  of  the  Church  of  St.  Mary,  Red- 
cliffe, as  the  object  of  architectural  elucidation  and  critical  inquiry,  I  shall 
not  subject  myself  to  be  numbered  among  the  triflers  who  devote  their  labour 
and  their  time  to  frivolous  and  unimportant  objects.  The  antiquary,  the  archi- 
tect, the  critic,  the  biographer,  and  the  poet,  are  deeply  interested  in  the 
history  and  description  of  an  edifice,  which  combines  much  elegance  of 
structure,  with  all  the  attractions  that  can  be  derived  from  poetical  associa- 

B 


2  REDCLIFFE    CHURCH. 

tion.  The  design  and  execution  of  Redcliffe  church,  at  once  deserve  the  in- 
vestigation of  the  architectural  antiquary,  and  commands  the  admiration  of 
the  spectator  :  the  writings,  or  discoveries  of  Chatterton  have  also  conferred 
upon  the  building  itself,  and  on  the  surrounding  scenery  a  powerful,  but 
adventitious  interest.  To  the  general  reader,  the  names  of  Rowley  and  of 
Canynge,  are  perfectly  familiar:  their  biography  has  exercised  the  critical 
and  historical  skill  of  some  of  the  most  celebrated  writers  of  the  last,  and  of 
the  present  century,  and  almost  every  miscellaneous  publication  that  is  in- 
tended for  the  closet  and  the  family  parlour,  contains  some  particulars  of  the 
"  gude  priest  of  Bristow,"  or  of  his  youthful  representative.  On  a  subject  so 
curious  in  itself,  and  of  so  much  interest  in  the  estimation  of  many  discerning 
persons,  it  may  be  presumed,  therefore,  that  the  labours  of  a  few  weeks  have 
not  been  totally  misapplied :  by  those  who  regard  the  history  of  the  Church 
of  Redcliffe  as  the  just  object  of  historical  investigation,  the  slightest  con- 
tribution to  their  present  stores  of  information  will  be  received  with  in- 
dulgence; and  by  those  to  whom  the  subject  may  appear  undeserving  of 
inquiry,  or  unsusceptible  of  embellishment,  the  brevity  that  results  from  a 
deficiency  of  materials,  it  is  presumed,  will  be  praised  as  a  merit,  rather  than 
censured  as  a  defect. 

If  the  labours  of  the  Antiquary,  indeed,  be  at  any  time  cheerless  and 
unpromising,  it  is  when  his  inquiries  are  baffled  by  a  deficiency  of  historical 
materials,  or  his  judgment  is  bewildered  amidst  a  mass  of  imperfect  and  con- 
tradictory evidence.  In  examining  the  history  of  the  Church  of  Redcliffe, 
the  inquirer  is  alternately  confounded  by  the  opposite  statements  of  different 
historians  and  topographers ;  discouraged  by  the  absence  of  all  satisfactory 
information,  and  perplexed  amidst  the  mazes  of  falsehood  and  forgery. 
Many  of  the  particulars  recorded  by  former  writers,  depend  for  their  authen- 
ticity on  no  better  authority  than  the  manuscripts  of  Chatterton;  and  even 
those  statements  that  have  been  collected  and  published  from  original  docu- 
ments, are  deprived  of  their  appropriate  weight,  by  the  suspicion  that  attaches 
to  every  historical  record  connected  with  the  subject.  The  writers  who  have 
paid  the  most  assiduous  attention  to  the  early  history  of  the  church  are 
perpetually  at  variance,  and  the  manuscript  memoranda  contained  in  different 
collections,  and  relating  to  the  more  recent  stages  of  inquiry  are  equally 
uncertain  and  unsatisfactory.  Under  these  circumstances,  a  brief  recapitula- 
tion of  the  remarks  of  others,  must  in  some  measure  supply  the  place  of 
positive  evidence ;  and  a  fair  comparison  of  the  scanty  documents  already  in 


CAMDEN  AND  LELANDS  ACCOUNTS.  3 

existence,  it  is  hoped,  will  be  received  as  an  apology  for  a  regular,  authentic, 
and  copious  narrative. 

Redcliffe,  according  to  Barrett,*  is  proved  by  many  "  ancient  deeds,"  to 
have  been  a  parish  of  great  antiquity,  and  originally  formed  part,  (as  it  does 
at  present,)  of  the  manor  of  Bedminster.  f  Notwithstanding  the  deeds  to 
which  he  thus  refers,  were  in  all  probability  the  gift  of  Chatterton,  yet,  as 
some  of  those  documents  are  quoted  in  the  original  Latin,  and  the  evidence 
of  Chatterton's  deceptions  does  not  apply  to  any  of  these  authorities  in  par- 
ticular, their  authenticity  cannot  justly  be  disputed.  "  Radcliff,"  says  Cam- 
den.J  "  a  little  suburb,  was  joined  to  the  city  by  a  stone-bridge  so  thick  set 
with  houses,  that  it  seemed  a  street  rather  than  a  bridge.  This  part  is  en- 
closed within  the  walls,  and  the  inhabitants  are  free  of  the  city."  He  imme- 
diately adds,  "  Among  the  fairest  of  churches,  is  St.  Mary  de  Radcliffe,  with- 
out the  walls,  with  a  grand  ascent  of  steps ;  the  whole  so  spacious  and  well 
built,  with  an  arched  roof  of  stone,  and  a  lofty  steeple,  §  as  to  exceed,  in  my 
opinion,  all  the  parish  churches  of  England  that  I  have  seen."  Leland  says, 
that  "  St.  Sprites  Chapell,  in  Radclef  Church-yard,  was  ons  a  paroche  afore 

*  History  and  Antiquities  of  the  City  of  Bristol,  p.  566. 

f  The  ecclesiastical  history  of  Redcliffe  may  be  considered  peculiar,  if  not  truly  singular.  It  con- 
stitutes a  part,  or  member,  of  the  parish  of  Bedminster ;  is  in  the  diocese  of  Bristol,  and  is  a  prebend 
to  the  cathedral  of  Salisbury.  This  prebend  comprehends  Redcliffe,  with  the  parishes  of  Bedminster, 
Abbots-Leigh,  and  St.  Thomas,  adjoining  Redcliffe;  yet  the  parochial  regulations  and  ordinances  are 
held  distinct  and  separate  from  each  other,  and  each  is  governed  by  its  own  churchwardens,  &c. 
The  living  of  Bedminster  is  both  a  rectory  and  a  vicarage,  and,  as  prebend,  the  incumbent  is  patron 
of  all  the  other  livings.  He  is  nominated  by  the  bishop  of  Salisbury.  Previous  to  the  year  1247, 
Redcliffe  and  the  Temple-fee  were  vested  in  the  Knights  Templars,  and  constituted  a  distinct  corporation. 
I  do  not  find  that  it  passed  from  the  Templars  to  the  Hospitallers,  as  was  generally  the  case  with  the 
possessions  of  the  former  :  but  it  is  probable  that  Simon  de  Burton,  a  merchant  of  Bristol,  bought 
it  of  that  military  fraternity.  The  ecclesiastical  edifice  of  Redcliffe  is  also  of  a  peculiar  nature  and 
description  :  it  is  easier  to  name  it  negatively  than  positively,  for  it  is  not  strictly  either  a  parish  church, 
conventual  church,  collegiate  church,  cathedral  church,  or  chapel. 

i  Gough's  edition  of  Camden's  Britannia,  vol.  i.   p.  63.  ed.  1791. 

§  Bishop  Gibson,  in  his  translation  of  Camden,  renders  this  word  "  Tower,"  and  thereby  expresses 
a  different  object : — Camden's  word  is  "  Turris."  Much  confusion  has  been  produced,  and  erroneous 
accounts  circulated,  for  want  of  a  correct  nomenclature  of  terms :  and  more  particularly  of  those  re- 
lating to  ancient  buildings,  and  to  other  antiquarian  objects. 

B  2 


4  REDCLIFFE    CHURCH. 

the  building  of  Radclyfe  new  churche*  "  and  William  of  Worcester,  who  was 
a  native  of  Bristol,  and  lived  in  the  time  of  Henry  VI.  calls  St.  Sprite's  an 
ancient  chapel,  near  Redcliffe  church.  It  appears  very  certain,  that  an  an- 
cient religious  edifice  was  standing  on,  or  near  the  site  of  the  present  church, 
anterior  to  the  erection  of  the  building  Avhich  we  are  now  surveying.  Several 
grants  of  land  towards  repairing  the  original  structure,  are  referred  to  by 
Barrett,  as  being  in  his  own  possession :  and  indigencies  were  issued  by 
different  bishops,  on  condition  that  the  persons  to  whom  they  were  granted 
would  "  devoutly  visit  the  church  of  the  blessed  Mary  of  Radcliffe,  in  Bris- 
tol, and  there  charitably  contribute  towards  the  repair  of  the  same,  and  pray 
for  the  souls  of  those  there  interred."  The  indigencies  are  by  John,  Bishop 
of  Ardfert,  dated  at  Bristol,  1232; — Peter  Quivill,  Bishop  of  Exeter,  dated  at 
"  Radeclyve,"  1287; — David,  Archbishop  of  Cassel,  dated  at  Bristol  in  1246; 
— Christianus  Episcopus  Hymelascensis,  dated  at  Bristol  1246; — and  Robert, 
Bishop  of  Bath  and  Wells,  dated  1278.  All  these  documents  are  said  to  have 
been  found  in  Canynge's  chests,  and  notwithstanding  they  were  the  gift  of 
Chatterton  to  Barrett,  their  number,  the  difficulties  that  would  have  prevented 
their  execution  by  the  want  of  specific  evidence  to  their  fabrication,  and 
their  coincidence  with  other  documents,  to  which  it  does  not  appear  that 
Chatterton  had  access,  are  in  favour  of  their  reception  as  genuine  authorities. 
The  foundation,  however,  of  the  Great  Church,  erected  on  the  site  of 
the  one  thus  mentioned,  is  ascribed  by  all  parties  to  Simon  de  Burton,^  who, 
previous  to  the  commencement  of  the  building,  in  1292,  had  been  advanced 
to  the  mayoralty  of  Bristol  three  times,  and  enjoyed  that  dignity  twice  after- 
wards; viz.  in  the  years  1304  and  1305.  X  When  another  writer,  therefore, 
on  this  subject  §  ascribes  the  foundation  of  the  church  to  William  Canynge  he 
confounds  the  completion  of  the  building  with  its  original  erection.  It  ap- 
pears that  William  Canynge,  senior,  the  mayor  of  Bristol,  completed  "  the 

*  Itinerary,  vol.  vii.  p.  86.  Barrett  supposes  that  St.  Sprite's  Chapel  was  also  called  "  Lamyngtons 
Lady  Chapel." 

t  Leland,  though  he  mentions  Burton  as  founder  of  an  alms-house,  in  which  he  was  buried,  does 
not  allude  to  his  foundation  of  the  preseni  church. 

}  MS.  in  Bib.  Bodl.  "History  of  the  famous  City  of  Bristol,  by  James  Stewart,"  MS.   1733. — 
Gough's  Collection,  Oxford. — MSS.  by  Hobson,  quoted  by  Barrett. 

§  Hist.  Bristol,  MS.  in  the  possession  of  the  Rev.  T.  Dudley  Fqsbrooke. 


ERA  OF  THE  BUILDING.  5 

body  of  Redcliffe  church  from  the  cross  aile  downwards,  and  so  the  church 
was  finished  as  it  now  is  :"  *  and  as  this  was  seventy-five  years  after  the  de- 
dication of  Burton's  church,  it  may  be  considered  to  be  the  finishing  of  what 
had  been  begun  and  partly  accomplished  by  its  founder.  It  was  customary, 
at  that  time,  for  the  builder  of  a  church  to  begin  at  the  east  end,  or  choir 
part,  which,  when  finished,  was  consecrated,  and  the  remainder  was  gradually 
prosecuted,  either  by  the  original  projector,  or  by  his  immediate  successors. 

Several  Wills  are  mentioned  by  Barrett,  as  dated  about  1380,  in  which 
money  is  given  "  for  the  fabric,  and  towards  repairing  the  Church  of  Red- 
cliff:"  and,  among  others,  that  of  John  Muleward  mentions  a  gift  in  money — 
"  Ad  opus  Beatae  Mariae  de  Radcleve^'  which  Barrett  justly  regards  as  a  proof 
that  the  work  was  going  on  at  that  time.  The  subsequent  re-edification  of 
the  church  by  the  grandson  of  the  William  Canynge  who  first  completed  it, 
is  involved  in  much  obscurity.  Among  Mr.  Fosbrooke's  MSS.  is  one  stating 
that  "  anno  1441,  William  Cannings,  who  was  mayor  of  Bristol  this  year, 
with  the  help  of  others  of  the  worshipful  town  of  Bristow,  kept  masons  and 
workmen  to  repair  and  edifye,  cover  and  glaze  the  church  of  Redcliffe, 
which  his  grandfather  had  founded  in  the  days  of  Edward  the  Third."  \ 
Stewart  coincides  in  this  statement,  except  with  regard  to  the  date,  which  is 
one  year  later.  A  manuscript,  quoted  by  Barrett,  agrees  with  Stewart  as  to 
the  date  of  1442,  in  which  year  Canynge  was  mayor  of  Bristol.  A  manuscript 
in  the  Bodleian  Library  informs  us  that  "  the  said  church,  having  suffered 
much  in  a  tempest,  the  above-mentioned  William  Canynge,  a  celebrated 
merchant  and  public  benefactor,  in  the  year  1474,  J  gave  five  hundred 
pounds  to  the  parishioners  of  Redcliffe  towards  repairing  the  church,  and  for 
the  maintenance  of  two  chaplains  and  two  clerks  in  St.  Mary's  Chapel  there, 
and  of  two  chantry  priests.  The  words  of  Barrett  are—"  the  same  plan  was 
observed  by  him  in  rebuilding  and  restoring  to  its  original  beauty,  after  being 
thrown  down  by  lightning.  The  south  aisle,  where  the  mischief  fell  heaviest, 
seems  to  have  been  rebuilt  with  a  somewhat  more  elevated  arch,  and  in  a 
lighter  style  than  the  north ;  a  difference  also  is  between  the  windows  of 
the  north  and  south  aisle.  §"  From  these  various  statements  it  would  appear, 
that  Canynge  having  begun  and  nearly  completed  the  re-edification  of  the 
church,  his  labours  were  rendered  almost  fruitless  by  the  effect  of  lightning; 

*  Barrett,  Hist.  p.  569.  f  Ms-  Collections  for  Bristol.— See  also  Barrett,,  p.  5?Oi 

X  In  Barrett  it  is  dated  1445...  §  Hist.  Bristol,  5fl. 


O  REDCLIFFE    CHURCH. 

and,  that  about  the  year  1445,  he  repaired  the  damages,  and  nearly  restored, 
it  to  the  state  in  which  it  stood  previous  to  the  tempest  that  threatened  its 
destruction.  Barrett  says,  "  that  from  a  deed  in  Latin  by  Canning,  dated  6th 
Edward  IV,  it  appears  he  founded  in  that  year  the  chantry  of  St.  Catherine 
in  this  church."* 

Such  is  the  brief  but  very  imperfect  history  of  a  structure  which  it  is 
impossible  to  contemplate  without  a  powerful  impression  of  the  omnipotence 
of  poetical  genius.  Whether  Chatterton,  or  a  priest  in  the  reign  of  Edward 
the  Fourth,  was  the  author  of  Ella,  and  of  several  other  similar  poems,  the 
church  of  Redcliffe  itself,  the  monuments  that  it  contains,  and  the  scenery 
that  surround  it,  certainly  owe  much  of  their  attraction  and  interest,  to  their 
association  with  these  writings.  The  tomb  of  Canynge  might  have  remained 
the  subject  of  solitary  examination  to  the  occasional  visitor,  had  not  his  name 
been  coupled  with  that  of  the  real  or  supposed  author  of  these  extraordinary 
compositions ;  and  though  the  architectural  beauties  of  the  structure  might 
have  excited  the  partial  and  occasional  admiration  of  the  professional  student, 
or  the  lover  of  the  arts ;  it  is  owing  to  the  manuscripts  of  Rowley,  or  to  the 
materials  of  their  fabrication,  that  it  has  become  the  object  of  interesting 
contemplation  to  the  literary  world,  and  has  awakened  the  inquiries,  and 
exercised  the  talents,  of  a  Milles,  a  Bryant,  a  Warton,  a  Mathias,  and  a 
Southey. 

The  preceding  narrative  is  given  to  shew  the  contradictory  and  vague 
statements  that  have  hitherto  been  made,  as  to  the  age  and  history  of  the 
present  edifice.  It  remains  for  me  to  elicit,  from  this  crude  mass,  something 
like  architectural  elucidation ;  and  endeavour  to  point  out  the  ages,  styles, 
and  dates  of  the  varied  portions  of  the  church.  As  I  have  not  been  for- 
tunate enough  to  obtain  any  authentic  and  unsuspicious  document  on  this 
subject,  my  inferences  can  only  be  conjectural :  but  if  these  conjectures  ap- 
pear founded  on  rational,  and  truly  probable  grounds,  they  will  partly  supply 
the  place  of  history,  and  it  is  hoped  will  afford  the  critical  reader  some  satis- 
factory information.  From  the  intimations  contained  in  the  preceding  ex- 
tracts, and  from  the  architectural  styles  of  the  different  parts  of  the  church, 
I  am  induced  to  assign  to  the  latter  the  following  dates. 

The  superstructure  of  the  whole  church  displays  three  distinct  and  dif- 
ferent eras  of  architecture.     The  middle  north  porch  is  certainly  the  oldest 

*  Hist.  Bristol,  571. 


THREE  ERAS  OF  ARCHITECTURE.  7 

portion,  and  this  corresponds  in  its  pilaster-columns,  arches,  and  mouldings, 
with  the  buildings  of  the  thirteenth  century. — At  this  age  it  appears  that 
Simon  de  Burton  lived,  and  was  engaged^  in  1£92,  either  in  constructing  a 
new  church,  or  "  re-edifying"  a  former  building.  Here  then  we  find  a  part 
of  the  edifice,  (though  certainly  only  a  very  small  part,)  correspond  with  a 
specific  date. 

Of  a  subsequent  age  and  style  are  the  tower,  and  grand  northern  porch, 
in  both  of  which  we  recognise  a  later  species  of  architecture;  where  the 
tracery  of  the  ceilings,  the  niches,  and  numerous  mouldings,  are  of  a  much 
more  enriched  and  elaborate  character,  than  the  former  specimen :  these 
parts  were  probably  raised  in  the  reign  of  Edward  III.  by  William  Canynge, 
sen.  * 

In  the  finishing  of  the  nave,  choir,  and  transepts,  we  must  look  for  the 
works  of  William  Canynge,  jun.,  the  rich  merchant  of  Bristol,  and  Dean  of 
Westbury :  but  here  the  style  is.  not  so  strictly  in  unison  with  the  era.  Still, 
however,  we  must  contemplate  the  greater  part  of  the  church  as  the  work- 
manship of  his  time. 

A  more  decorated  species  of  architectural  design  is  shewn  in  the  entrance 
door-way  to  the  vestry;  and  also  in  Sir  Thomas  Mede's  monument  in  the 
north  aile,  the  latter  of  which  was  probably  raised  about  the  year  1480. 

*  He  is  recorded  as  member  for  Bristol  in  the  years  1364,  1383,  and  1384.     Barrett's  History, 
p.  151. 


8  EEDCLIFFE    CHURCH. 

CHAP.  ir. 

Description  of  the  Church,  with  reference  to  the  accompanying  Prints. 

xWert  object  of  nature  and  of  art,  that  is  inherently  grand,  or  beautiful, 
is  calculated  to  afford  pleasure  to  the  human  mind.  The  sublime  and  tower- 
ing mountain,  the  romantic  cascade,  the  interminable  and  restless  ocean, 
the  broad  and  translucent  lake,  are  all  highly  interesting  and  impressive; 
but  these  are  the  inimitable  works  of  an  omniscient  Architect:  man  vainly 
endeavours  to  mimic  them ;  and  advance  the  productions  of  art  to  vie  with 
those  of  nature.  Though  however  his  works  be  comparatively  small  and 
insignificant,  they  often  excite  the  amazement  and  admiration  of  his  fellow- 
creatures.  Genius,  aided  by  Science,  can  produce  surprising  effects;  can 
furnish,  to  the  curious  and  inquisitive  mind,  ample  sources  of  study  and 
delight.  This  is  fully  verified  in  the  ancient  architecture  of  Great  Britain, 
as  well  as  in  the  splendid,  and  much-praised  edifices  of  Greece  and  of 
Italy.  It  has  long  been  the  fashion,  founded  on  prejudice,  to  praise  the  latter 
at  the  expense  of  the  former;  but  the  impartial  historian  and  critic  will 
award  to  each  its  proper,  and  just  share  of  excellence.  Each  style  of  archi- 
tecture has  its  peculiar  beauties,  merits,  and  defects:  and  each  will  afford 
important  lessons  to  the  judicious  architect :  but  the  man  who  tamely  and 
frigidly  copies  either,  will  impeach  both  his  taste  and  his  judgment. 

In  the  Church  of  Redcliffe  the  architect  has  manifested  both  genius  and 
science.  Its  design  has  some  traits  of  novelty,  and  its  execution  is  founded 
on  geometrical  principles.  Though  its  ornaments,  and  some  of  the  parts 
are  similar  in  many  other  churches,  yet  the  whole  is  unique ;  and  it  may 
be  justly  called  a  grand,  and  truly  interesting  specimen  of  the  architecture 
of  the  age  in  which  it  was  erected.  Loftiness,  lightness,  and  variety,  are  its 
marked  characteristics.  Every  part,  both  internally  and  externally,  is 
charged  with  ornaments :  is  enriched  with  sculpture,  and  architectural  em- 
bellishments :  but  these  are  not  so  prominent  and  obtrusive  as  in  the  gor- 
geous chapels  of  King's  College  at  Cambridge,  and  of  Henry  the  Seventh 
at  Westminster.*     It  may  not  inaptly  be  compared  to  a  graceful,  and  elegant 

*  Plans,  views,  and  details,  with  histories  and  descriptions  of  these  two  buildings,  are  given  in 
"  The  Architectural  Antiquities  of  Great  Britain,"  Vols.  I.  and  II. 


VIEW,  AND   SITUATION  OF  THE   CHURCH.  9 

female,  dressed  in  a  light  and  flowing  drapery;  as  the  latter  adorns  the 
former.  To  continue  the  metaphor,  and  thus  portray  the  edifice  and  its 
situation,  Ave  may  further  remark,  that  the  former  resembles  a  dignified  beauty, 
accidentally  surrounded,  and  incommoded  by  a  motley  group  of  the  rabble. 
This  will  not  be  thought  exaggerated  by  the  stranger  who  visits  Redcliffe 
church  from  Bristol.  The  usual  approach  is  by  a  long,  narrow  street,  skirted 
by  small  shops,  and  from  its  contracted  nature  and  peculiarity  of  position,  is 
generally  very  dirty,  black,  and  perilous  to  the  passenger.  Several  manufac- 
tories, warehouses,  and  workshops,  of  not  the  most  pleasant  and  odoriferous 
kind,  are  distributed  on  the  right  and  left :  whilst  the  narrow  thoroughfare  is 
generally  crowded  by  colliers,  sandmen,  sledges,  sailors,  asses,  and  carts.  In 
such  a  situation  personal  safety  is  the  first  care.  Having  "  run  this  gauntlet" 
for  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile,  the  stranger  is  at  once  astonished  and  delighted, 
to  find  the  street  expanded,  the  ground  rising,  and  to  see  a  towering  edifice 
elevated,  on  the  brow  of  a  natural  terrace.  This  view  is  singularly  impressive 
and  prepossessing,  both  from  its  intrinsic  and  individual  effect,  and  as  con- 
trasted with  the  inauspicious  approach.  The  richly  decorated  tower,  west 
front  of  the  church,  unique  north-porch,  and  transept;  with  flying  buttresses, 
pinnacles,  and  perforated  parapets,  all  unite  to  constitute  a  mass  of  archi- 
tecture, which  cannot  fail  to  delight  the  artist,  and  astonish  the  common 
observer. — See  pi.  VI. 

Built  on  the  side  of  shelving  ground,  it  was  necessary  to  have  a  flight  of 
many  steps  from  the  level  on  the  north,  to  the  pavement  of  the  church,  which 
is  still  below  the  surface  of  the  cemetery,  on  the  south.  A  fine  and  very 
picturesque  feature  is  thus  produced;  (See  Plate  VI.),  and  the  same  elevated 
site,  confers  on  the  tower,  and  church,  a  lofty  and  imposing  aspect. 

The  twelve  accompanying  prints  display  the  forms,  features,  and  archi- 
tectural peculiarities  of  nearly  the  whole  edifice :  and  with  a  few  descriptions, 
with  reference  to  these  prints,  it  is  hoped  that  the  reader  will  at  once  be 
made  acquainted  with  the  style  and  arrangement  of  the  Church,  and  be  satis- 
fied with  my  endeavours  to  illustrate  it. 

Various  parts  of  the  Exterior  of  the  building  are  shewn  in  Plates  III, 
IV,  V,  VI,  and  VII ;  and  of  the  Interior,  in  those  numbered  VIII,  IX,  X,  XI, 
and  XII..  The  extent,  arrangement,  and  ground  plan,  are  laid  down  in 
Plates  I.  and  II. 


10  REDCLIFFE    CHUBCH. 

Plate  I.     Ground  Plan. 

The  original  design  of  the  church,  was  probably  uniform  and  regular ;  but 
as  it  has  been  built  at  different  periods,  the  later  additions  have  not  been 
raised  in  accordance  either  with  the  style,  or  plan  of  the  first  erection.  The 
eastern  chapel,  choir  and  ailes,  the  transept  and  a  large  portion  of  the  nave, 
display  a  correspondency  of  parts,  and  style :  but  the  vestries,  or  chantries, 
P  and  Q ;  the  porches,  R,  S,  and  X,  with  the  tower  D,  are  additional 
members. 

The  ground  plan  shews  the  internal  arrangement  of  the  church,  the  pro- 
jections, number,  and  relative  situation  of  the  clustered  columns  between 
the  body  and  the  side  ailes,  the  walls,  windows,  doors,  buttresses,  porches, 
skreens,  monuments,  and  the  varied  forms  of  the  groins,  or  ribs  beneath  the 
vaulted  roof.  The  capital  letters  refer  to  the  primary  divisions  of  the  church ; 
the  small  letters  to  different  parts  and  ornaments;  the  figures  to  the  monu- 
ments; and  the  roman  numbers  with  a  star  to  each,  to  the  points  of  view 
displayed  in  the  different  prints. 

A.  A.  the  nave,  B.  B.  the  south  aile,  C.  C.  the  north  aile ;  D.  the  tower, 
at  the  north-west  angle  of  the  church;  E.  the  centre  of  the  transept,  over 
which  the  principal  tower  is  usually  raised:  by  the  size  of  the  four  piers  in 
this  place,  it  seems  very  probable  that  it  was  originally  intended  to  have  a 
tower  here;  F.  the  chief  aile  of  the  north  transept;  G.  that  of  the  south; 
H.  I.  J.  and  K.  the  side  ailes  to  the  transepts,  of  corresponding  height  and 
character  to  the  ailes  of  the  nave  and  choir.  This  continued  aile,  or  double 
aile  to  the  transept,  is  not  a  common  feature.  I  believe  it  only  belongs  to 
the  present  church,  and  to  those  of  York,  Ely,  and  Westminsters  L*  the 
choir,  but  here  kept  apart  for  the  chancel ;.  M.  and  N.  the  north  and  south 
ailes  to  the  choir;  O.  the  virgin  chapel,  now  used  as  a  school-room..  At  the 
west  end  of  this  chapel  is  a  stone  skreen,  with  tracery,  shields,  &C;  On  the 
north  and  south  sides  are  stair-case  turrets,  and  the  whole  is  lighted  by  five 
windows.*  At  i.  is  an  entrance  porch,  and  at  k.  a  passage  from  the  south  aile. 
Beneath  this  chapel  is  a  crypt.     P.  a  vestry,  and  Q.  an  inner  apartment  to, 

*  In  the  year  1571,  Queen  Elizabeth  founded  a  school  here  for  grammar  and  writing,  as  expressed 
by  her  deed,  and  also  gave  a  building,  called  the  Holy-Ghost-Chapel,  for  the  school-house.  This  was 
situated  near  the  south-west  angle  of  Redcliffe  church  ;  but  was  taken  down  in  the  year  1766,  when, 
an  ancient  stone  coffin,  with  a  figure  in  basso  relievo,  and  an  inscription  on  the  lid,  was  found  in  the 
western  wall. — See  No.  J. 


3PI..1 


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tT/MGCM- 


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feet      J.Jfo//«J*. 


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REFERENCE  TO  THE  PLAN.  H 

the  same.  These  two  rooms  have  others  over  them,  and  appear  to  have  been 
appropriated  as  a  dwelling  for  a  catholic  priest :  R.  a  porch,  or  vestibule  be- 
tween the  hexagon  porch  and  the  north  aile  of  the  church.  This  porch  is 
certainly  the  most  ancient  part  of  the  whole  fabric,  and  is  probably  a  portion 
of  Simon  de  Burton's  building.  It  is  a  regular  square,  with  small  insulated 
columns  against  the  walls,  supporting  pointed  arches  of  the  lancet  shape. 
The  vaulted  roof  has  only  two  ribs,  or  groins  crossing  from  the  extreme 
angles,  and  intersecting  each  other  at  the  centre.  On  the  western  side  is  a 
door-way  to  a  stair-case,  u.  which  communicated  with  a  room  above,  and  also 
with  the  tower  of  the  church.  Another  door-way,  T.  is  cut  through  the  wall 
on  the  east  side,  and  leads  to  a  gallery  round  the  hexagon  porch,  and  also  to 
the  noted  Chattertonian  apartment  over  it.  S.  the  Hexagon,  or  outer  porch, 
which,  with  the  former  porch,  are  shewn  more  at  large  in  PI.  II. — W.  the 
Stairs  to  a  room  over  the  southern  porch,  X. 

Small  letters  of  reference  in  the  plan: — a.  Organ  skreen  j  b.  a  bracket 
against  this  pier  supports  a  carved  sword,  which  belonged  to  Sir  Robert  Yea- 
mans,  Knt  and  Bart,  and  who  was  mayor  of  Bristol  in  the  year  1669.  His  re- 
mains were  interred  in  the  north  aile  of  this  church.  Near  this  relic  is  an 
object  of  popular  curiosity,  traditionally  called  a  rib  of  the  noted  Dun-cow, 
slain  by  Guy,  Earl  of  Warwick;  but  it  is  more  likely  to  be  the  rib  of  a  whale, 
or  of  some  other  monstrous  fish: — c.  an  old  stone  font;  d.  a  modern  font,  en- 
closed; e.  and  f.  skreens  of  stone,  with  open  work,  dividing  the  ailes  from 
the  chancel,  which  is  also  separated  from  the  nave  by  an  iron  skreen ;  g.  and 
h.  stone  skreens,  closing  up  the  whole  of  the  two  arches  on  the  north  and 
south  sides  of  the  altar:  i.  Altar  table,  behind  which  is  a  modern  skreen  of 
wainscot,  carved,  gilt,  and  painted:*  k.  door- way  to  the  lady  chapel,  now 
closed  up  :  1.  porch  to  the  same  chapel :  m.  door- way  to  the  south  aile,  near 
the  east  end :  n.  the  western  door-way  :  o.  stair-case  to  the  organ-loft,  tower, 
and  roof  of  the  church. 

The  figures,  No.  1  to  13,  refer  to  the  monuments  which  will  be  described 
hereafter;  and  the  figures  III.  IV.  V.  VI.  VII.  VIII.  IX.  X.  and  XL  with  a 
star  to  each,  mark  the  situations,  or  directions  whence  the  views  were  taken, 
corresponding  with  the  same  numbers  on  the  top  of  each  plate. 

*  The  carpenter  who  designed  this,  and  the  organ  loft,  fancied  he  should  display  a  fine  classical 
taste,  by  mimicking  the  Roman  architecture,  instead  of  following  the  style  of  the  church;  and  has 
therefore  introduced  columns  which  have  some  resemblance  to  the  corinthian,  or  composite  order ;  but, 
exclusive  of  the  column,  there  is  scarcely  any  other  architectural  member. 

c  Q 


12  REDCLIFFE    CHURCH. 

Plate  II.     Ground  Plan  of  the  North  Porch,  &c. 

I  was  induced  to  have  this  second  plan  engraved  for  the  purpose  of 
displaying,  more  distinctly,  the  horizontal  form  and  peculiarity  of  the  great 
north  porch;  also  its  union  with  the  inner  porch,  and  the  insulated  columns, 
doors,  stair-cases,  skreen,  and  groining  of  the  latter.  The  grand  external 
porch  is  certainly  a  very  singular  structure,  and  eminently  entitled  to  minute 
illustration  and  inquiry.  Its  form,  ornaments,  appropriation,  and  "  eventful 
history,"  all  conspire  to  render  it  exceedingly  curious  and  interesting.  The 
original  use  and  intention  of  this  building  cannot  easily  be  accounted  for. 
A  porch  was  already  erected  on  the  same  side  of  the  church,  and  that  porch 
was  provided  with  a  room  over  its  vaulted  ceiling.  The  plan  is  an  irregular 
hexagon;  with  bold  triangular  buttresses  at  the  external  angles.  A  stone 
seat  runs  round  the  interior  base,  a  large  and  singular  door-way  faces  the 
north ;  a  smaller  one  opens  towards  the  east,  a  closet  is  in  the  western  wall, 
and  blank  arches,  with  purfled  pediments,  are  placed  in  the  lower  story.  An 
ornamental  cornice  with  sculptured  busts  and  flowers,  continue  round  five 
sides  of  the  room  ;  and  over  the  cornice  is  a  series  of  five  windows,  each  di- 
vided into  three  days,  or  lights,  with  the  lower  portion  walled  up.  At  the  sill 
of  these  windows  is  a  passage,  extending  from  the  stair-case  at  the  south- 
east angle,  to  the  pier  at  the  corresponding  angle.  The  vaulted  roof  of  this 
porch  is  adorned  with  several  ribs  ramifying  from  the  centre,  in  thirty-two 
radii,  to  the  circumference.  At  thirteen  different  points  of  intersection  are  as 
many  sculptured  bosses,  or  orbs. 

The  external  feature  of  this  porch  is  shewn  in  Pl.  VII.*  where  the  prin- 
cipal elevation,  consisting  of  a  curious  door-way,  a  series  of  niches,  with  acute 
canopies,  the  upper  part  of  a  window,  two  triangular  buttresses,  part  of  the 
north  transept,  and  a  bit  of  the  tower,  with  modern  ballustrades  and  steps, 
are  tastefully  and  faithfully  displayed.  The  small  openings  near  the  summit 
of  this  porch  afford  light  to  the  apartment,  which  contains  fragments  of  the 
famous   Rowleyan  chests.f     It  is  probable  that  this  room  was  originally  in- 

*  The  engraver  of  this  plate  has  at  once  enhanced  his  own  reputation,  and  conferred  an  honour 
on  the  graphic  art,  by  the  specimen  before  us.  It  is  one  of  those  rare  works  of  the  burin,  which  pleases 
the  common  observer,  and  delights  the  most  skilful  artist. 

t  Barrett  says,  that  one  of  the  largest  of  the  chests,  which  formerly  occupied  this  room,  is  noticed 
in  a  deed  of  Canynge's,  in  the  following  terms :  "  Cysta  serrata  cum  sex  clavibus  vocata  cysta  Willielmi 


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SOUTH   AND  EAST   SIDES  OF  THE  CHURCH.  13 

tended  for  the  reception  of  the  church  muniments  :  Barrett  says  it  was  called 
the  treasury.  "  In  the  old  church  of  Redcliffe,"  he  remarks,  "  were  formerly 
keepers  of  the  porches :  the  present  porches  have  several  apartments,  with 
fire-places  over  them,"  (or  rather  in  them,)  "  probably  for  the  habitation  of  the 
porter,  with  many  of  the  chaplains  and  other  religious  persons  belonging  to 
the  same.*"  Externally  and  internally  this  porch  consists  of  two  principal 
tiers,  or  stories,  each  dissimilar  to  the  other,  and  each  adorned  with  niches, 
canopies,  crockets,  pediments,  &c.  The  grand  door-way  is  a  curiosity  in 
architecture ;  being  unlike  any  other,  I  believe,  in  this  country.  It  has  some 
analogy,  in  form  and  ornament,  to  oue  in  the  monastery  of  Batalha,  in  Por- 
tugal, which  was  designed  by  David  Hacket,  an  Irishman,  about  1400.f  On 
the  east  side  of  the  porch  is  a  small  door-way,  ornamented  with  a  triangular 
pediment,  pinnacles,  crockets,  finial,  and  foliage  running  round  the  inner 
moulding.  The  brackets  in  the  niches  consist  of  statues,  some  of  which  are 
very  singular  and  curious.  Near  the  door-way  just  noticed,  these  figures,  as 
well  as  other  sculptured  ornaments,  are  in  good  preservation. 

Plate  III.     View  of  the  Church  from  the  south  east. 

This  print  shews  nearly  the  whole  of  the  southern  side  of  the  Church, 
with  part  of  the  Lady  Chapel;  the  tower  and  truncated  spire,  and  the  southern 
porch.  In  this  view,  though  not  so  carefully  defined  as  I  could  wish,  the 
forms  and  tracery  of  the  windows  are  pointed  out;  and  it  will  be  perceived, 
that  the  whole  wall  of  the  upper  story  of  the  church,  from  east  to  west*  with 
the  exception  of  the  transept,  is  covered  with  panelling  and  pilaster  mould- 
ings. The  lofty  and  narrow  proportion  of  the  middle  aile  of  the  transept  is 
also  characterised ;  and  it  will  be  seen  that  an  open-worked  parapet  extends 
along  the  summit  of  the  aile,  and  another  at  the  top  of  the  church.  This 
part  was  formerly  adorned  with  pinnacles.  Flying  buttresses  extend  from  the 
upper  story  of  the  church  to  the  attached  buttresses  of  the  ailes ;  but  the 
transept  is  deprived  of  these  supports. 

Canynges  in  domo  thesauraria  ecctesiae  Beatse  Maria:  de  Redclive."  This  chest,  continues  Barrett, 
"  furnished  Mr.  Morgan  with  many  curious  parchments  relating  to  Mr.  Canynges  and  the  church  of 
Redclive."     Hist.  Bristol,  p.  576. 

*  History  of  Bristol,  p.  576. 

t  See  Murphy's  "  Plans,  Elevations,  &c.  of  the  Church  of  Batalha,"  with  27  Engravings,  fo. 
41.  \4s.6d. 


14  BEDCLIFFE    CHURCH. 

Plate  IV.    View  of  the  East  End. 

This  print  represents  the  eastern  and  two  northern  windows  of  the 
Virgin  Mary  Chapel,  with  one  of  the  buttress-staircases  to  the  same ;  also  the 
entrance  to  the  crypt,  and  the  open  parapet  at  the  top.  The  contour  of  the 
eastern  window  over  the  altar,  now  closed  up,  is  also  seen,  as  well  as  the 
window  at  the  east  end  of  the  north  aile. 

Plate  V.     South  Porch.* 

Though  this  appendage  to  the  church  is  at  present  in  a  mutilated  and 
disfigured  condition,  it  has  been  handsome,  and  highly  adorned  with  archi- 
tectural dressings.  A  range  of  five  niches,  with  acutely  pointed  and  crocketed 
pediments,  is  displayed  immediately  over  the  central  door- way ;  and  at  the 
angles  are  double,  graduated  buttresses,  with  sculptured  canopies  and  pin- 
nacles. Behind  the  porch  is  shewn  three  divisions  of  the  upper  part  of  the 
nave,  with  the  large  windows.  The  style  of  the  upper  parapet,  and  of  the 
angular  pinnacle,  with  the  panelling  on  the  outer  wall,  are  shewn  in  this  view. 

Plate  VI.  View  of  the  Tower, 

Has  been  already  described,  p.  9 ;  and  it  is  only  necessary  to  remark, 
that  the  whole  of  the  present  view  cannot  be  seen  from  any  one  point ;  as 
there  are  houses  abutting  against  the  north-west  angle  of  the  wall.  Under 
the  steps,  at  the  west  end,  is  a  conduit. 

Plate  VII.    View  of  the  North  Porch, 

Is  the  last  of  the  series  of  plates  which  I  have  appropriated  to  the  exterior 
of  the  church;  and  this  has  been  described,  p.  12. 

Plate  VIII.    View  of  the  Nave. 

In  this  print,  the  style  and  decoration  of  the  nave  are  displayed ;  also 
the  choir,  or  chancel  end,  and  a  view  into  the  south  aile,  with  part  of  the 
southern  transept:  at  the  distant  end  is  shewn  one  of  Hogarth's  pictures, 
which,  with  a  large  curtain,  and  a  modern  wooden  skreen,  hide  the  eastern 

*  As  this  plate  has  been  engraved  by  three  different  hands,  I  have  not  put  any  engraver's  name 
to  it. 


l']L.  W. 


6     ■11,/,/  Jcl.  fin  idfti/li,™   JtMny  U.„fjA,i:&h: 

?'?«<■  of  the  E aft  li mi. 
TczaiJ-jnrBmrSiK? MHIIKBir.ksq.  an  admirer H jrronurtir  cf  Anliqnmuin  publications,  this  1 'lull  is  inscribed  i 

Xondon.  ■  J'nbtislt,:,l  iv  J.lirilt.'n.  Jltnej,  MIS. 


oJ.±Ae[fi  /c. 


the  Author. 


ph.'v: 


UEB^MIFFE  SMlD1KEIl:-ISlKirST©IL. 

South  JJoivh.  &c. 
To  tticJltv'tliicfiAitu  IQush  3TJ.2)Y/.-cnjl7ir  of Sulishoj:  and.  Vicar  of  S?Mvy Seddafa,  Bristol,  Hus  Plate  is  insaibed  bj-  ifLe/±jfju^wr 

fan./.'/!.  hO'/i.i/u.t  /■;■  JBlil&Hk  Jul*  J.  UH2. 


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MEBSILinFFE   (GMIfflBeil:   JgmSTiDIL/ 

HoTtiiwesi  yiw  of  1hc  Twer.  jXbi'th  Fardu  &c 
2t>  JOBN  SJIERWESr,  MI),  who  has  >1isplaved  miwh  Jrrh.rohoiail  biowhvlge  in  Ills  tfqys  on  lft£^4riiquilv  tind  mdhmiidk-  oftlijrJkwlddnMSS " 

this  flak  is  inscribe  by  —th? .  inilt.ir 


[,mM<: Publish.-.:  ~<.  .r. :::-:."■■!  .rtihi.vk-j 


V.L.  V"II, 


^  ■Utn:kt  nout  Mf . 


^y_   Jj   ^fttmc  ±J&. 


^utt  of  -tin-  Jlbr&i  "Porch ..  84>. 

To  EDTMJtD  BIRD,  Esq.  who  has  &%nad  considerable-  abflities  iw  tfu*.  design  aJid.  eazcztiwn*  of  several 
Futures,  this  Flatc  is  iwciU'ed  by  his  sincere  friend  JJirittoro. 


londtm-  J'ublislud,  by  JJirWzm.:  Mu-J,l8i2 
Trinttd.  lyTfai/ivard 


PJL  VEl 


fir  (Jhrfteru  Jstijfon/  &;,  e£$etSffc  f'/i . 

Ticw  of  tJit-JFafc,  &c  looking  £ast. 
To  tfi£ Rev^  SJHf-  SETER.MAa  toter  Ji-pronurter of^dntiejiuvidii  uwestiaalwm ,  tiiix \Platt is  inscribed  by    the  Author' 

r   ,  .;-  lonAem,  Jhtbhsholty  JJirittotv.Julyii&iz. 


./'  //.,„/,■, 


lEEEXSMFFE  (DHnjJIK(SIEL"-3g3EaSl'©IL 

View  or'  Soutfi  Trtuiccpt . 
To  trn^LiMfioimjfx&SQ  an^Jiiist  of  consulauble  f/il&zts,  tfusFlaU  ts  insaibedsbyhis sinctre- rrimd,  tt,  ^. 

Lt*ttJ&ii:?kiblLsheJ.  bv  JBri/Um ^liut-iuSLS. 
J*rinu,1  hJf.otnu-J. 


PI.  ISC 


East  end  offfuC\".azk,. 
Toth*Jkv*mc>nJm)IErresllItC>OKE.MA)L-j:s.A;hithor  of  "BrilishihnMhism"  S:  ,nha-Vorks,^iis  Plate  ui  vMcrOied.Vy 

Lonj0n:FiiblLslL.:,l  by  J.Jiriilvn.  JlllvJ.jHj?. 


J.JJnt/vn 


EL.X 


EBIBSa.Sira'S    £MW3JE3II:-ISIBIISB'(DIL, 

l7)oor-nay >  Sknai  &&.  to  the  .V'/VM. 

ToROBEBX  SOUTEETEsq.  whoso various  Huron-  productions  display  Genius  &  Talent'.  thisTuiteis  inscribed  by 

tlwAuthor 

Zenden ■:l'ttbluilud  b<  J.JirilUm.  Jan.:  i  l3i2. 


TRANSEPT,    DOOR-WAY  AND   SKREEN.  15 

window  as  well  as  the  original  altar-piece.  It  will  be  seen  by  this  print,  that 
the  ceiling  of  the  whole  church  is  richly  adorned  with  tracery,  and  that  the 
wall  between  the  large  arches  and  the  upper  tier  of  clerestory  windows, 
is  covered  with  panelling,  and  pilasters.  The  forms  of  the  piers,  with  their 
bases  and  capitals,  are  characterised  in  this  print. 

Plate  IX.     View  across  the  Transept  from  North  to  South. 

The  ornamental  finishing  of  the  chief  aile  of  the  transept,  with  its  lateral 
aile,  the  clustered  columns,  or  piers  of  the  nave,  and  a  clerestory  window  of 
the  same,  with  two  of  the  very  highly  ornamented  windows  of  the  south 
transept,  are  the  features  of  this  print.  But  the  chief  reason  for  selecting 
this  point  of  view  is  to  shew  the  picturesque  arrangement  of  forms  and 
parts ;  and  the  brilliant  effect  which  is  frequently  seen  in  this  portion  of  the 
church.  Unfortunately,  the  engraver,  after  having  finished  two  plates  of 
this  subject,  has  not  succeeded  in  producing  the  desired  effect  in  either. 

Plate  X.     View  in  the  North  Aile. 

In  this  print  is  displayed  the  stone  skreen,  which  divides  the  north  aile 
from  the  chancel ;  with  a  stone  seat  attached.  The  groined  character  of  the 
ceiling  is  also  shewn ;  and  a  lofty,  close  skreen,  which  fills  up  the  eastern 
arch  of  this  aile,  opposite  to  which  is  the  fine  monument  of  Sir  Thomas 
Mede,  and  Philip  his  brother. 

Plate  XI.     Door-way  and  Skreen  to  the  North  Porch. 

This  skreen,  consisting  of  two  portions,  is  an  architectural  curiosity  and 
beauty.  In  the  centre  is  a  door-way,  with  a  square  head,  and  ornamented 
with  several  richly  sculptured  bosses  in  a  hollow  moulding.  On  each  side  is 
a  series  of  ornamental  panels,  crowned  with  Ogee  arches,  the  outer:  mould- 
ing of  which  is  adorned  with  fine  crockets  and  finials.  Over  the  door-way 
is  a  very  elegant  frieze,  charged  with  vine-leaves,  busts,  animals,  and  foliage; 
and  above  that  is  another  portion  or  story  of  the  skreen,  with  four  panels, 
and  surmounted  with  a  rich  frieze.  Behind  this  skreen  is  a  blank  win- 
dow, the  mullions  and  tracery  of  which  correspond  with  the  others  of  the 
aile. — See  PL  XII.  4. 


16  UEDCLIFFE    CHURCH. 

Plate  XII. 

Displays  four  different  windows,  a  door-way,  and  part  of  a  parapet. 
Fig.  1.  A  lofty  ^  narrow  window,  at  the  extremity  of  the  north  and  south 
transepts.  2.  A  window,  with  tracery  beneath  it,  and  an  arch,  of  the  upper 
story  of  the  south  transept.  The  outer  ornaments,  and  filling  up  of  this  win- 
dow, are  rather  singular.  3.  Window,  panelling,  and  an  arch  of  the  nave. 
4.  Window  of  the  ailes,  finished  at  the  top  with  an  obtuse,  triangular  mould- 
ing. 5.  Door-way  from  the  north*  aile  to  the  vestry,  which  was  probably  a 
chantry  erected  by  Sir  Thomas  Mede.  6.  The  perforated  parapet,  which 
runs  round  the  upper  wall  of  the  church. 

The  Vignette  Border  in  the  title-page,  shews  part  of  the  ribs,  and  tracery 
of  the  ceiling  in  the  north  aile.  The  bosses  here  are  fancifully  sculptured. 
In  the  east  aile  of  the  south  transept  at  p.  in  the  ground  plan,  is  a  boss  on. 
which  are  the  figures  of  a  sow,  with  young  pigs ;  a  very  strange  and  unusual 
device.     A  similar  basso-relievo  is  found  in  Exeter  cathedral. 

Having  thus  referred  to  all  the  accompanying  prints,  and  pointed  out  the 
chief  architectural  features,  and  peculiarities  of  the  church,  I  proceed  to; 
-specify  the  principal  monuments. 


IRL.XB 


?/'.Jm/w.J  del  ■  />>  SlMmu  ..'A,/..//,  Se  ,y  ,>i,i,if/  r.'/i. 

DfW7'it'a.y,  tblFwdows. 


/.  £^&m  Jc-. 


Ztmifcrb.-fiibtisftal  by  J.J3ritl/»i ,  Jzm&l  iSjs. 


17 


CHAP.  III. 

Description  of  the  Monuments,  with  reference  to  the  Numbers  in  the  ground 
Plan,  including  Anecdotes  of  John  Lamyngton,  Simon  de  Burton,  William 
Canynge,  John  Bleaker,  William  Cole,  John  Jay,  John  Brook,  Sir  Thomas 
Mede,  Mrs.  Fortune  Little,  John  Inyn,  Everard  le  French,  Thomas  Brough- 
ton,    William  Barrett,  and  Sir  William  Penn. 

No.  I.  John  Lamyngton.  Near  the  south-west  angle  of  the  church  is 
a  large  stone  coffin,  with  a  statue  in  demi-relief  on  the  lid,  and  beneath  it  two 
words  in  old  characters,  which  Barrett  reads,  "  Joannesi  ILampttgtoti."  This 
coffin  was  placed  here  in  1 766",  having  been  discovered  under  the  west  win- 
dow of  St.  Sprite's  chapel,  which  formerly  stood  close  to  the  church,  and- was 
demolished  at  that  period.  Upon  first  opening  the  coffin,  the  solid  parts  of 
the  body  retained  their  natural  position  in  the  most  perfect  manner,  but  on 
being  touched  they  immediately  crumbled  to  dust. 

John  Lamyngton  is  mentioned  in  Barrett's  list  of  vicars,  as  having  been 
chaplain  of  this  church  in  1393-  The  same  author  hazards  a  conjecture,  but 
upon  what  grounds  he  does  not  state,  that  St.  Sprite's  chapel  was  called 
Lamyngton's  Lady-Chapel,  before  it  received  its  subsequent  appellation  from 
the  fraternity  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  to  which  society  the  use  of  it  is  said  to 
have  been  granted  in  1383,  by  the  master  of  the  Hospital  of  St.  John.* 

No.  2.  Is  a  flat  stone,  with  a  cross  and  two  words  upon  it,  which  are 
almost  obliterated.  Several  fragments  of  other  flat  grave-stones,  with  de- 
faced inscriptions,  constitute  part  of  the  pavement  of  the  western  end  of  the 
church;  some  of  them  are  certainly  of  very  ancient  date. 

No.  3.  Is  an  altar  monument  supporting  the  recumbent  statue  of  a  war- 
rior, or  knight  habited  in  a  coat  of  chain  armour,  and  having  his  legs  crossed. 
The  name  of  the  person  to  whom  this  monument  properly  belongs,  is  un- 
known, there  being  no  inscription,  or  any  distinct  mark  upon  it,  by  which  it 
can  be  decidedly  ascertained.  Tradition  assigns  it  to  William  Burton;  Barrett 
to  Robert  de  Berkley,  who  was  Lord  of  Bedminster  and  RedcliflTe. 

Besides  the  tradition  of  the  name,  nothing  is  known  concerning  Wil- 
liam Burton.     Indeed,  no  evidence  of  the  existence  of  such  a  person,  who 

*  Barrett's  History  of  Bristol,  p.  hg6. 
V 


18  REDCLIFFE    CHURCH. 

could  possibly  be  the  owner  of  this  monument,  can  be  discovered  from  any 
species  of  record.  The  tradition  then  is  probably  erroneous,  unless  it  may 
be  supposed  that  in  the  lapse  of  ages,  some  accident  has  led  to  the  substitu- 
tion of  the  prenomen  William,  for  that  of  Simon,  in  which  case  this  may  be 
regarded  as  the  tomb  of  Simon  de  Burton,  the  original  founder  of  the 
church,  and  also  of  the  alms-house  called  after  him."  Burton's  Alms-house." 
It  is  not  likely  to  have  belonged  to  Robert  de  Berkley,  for  most  of  that 
family  were  interred  in  the  church  of  St.  Augustine's  monastery. 

No.  4.  Is  a  plain  altar  tomb,  supporting  the  recumbent  figure  of  a  man 
in  sacerdotal"  robes,  with  a  large  scrip,  or  pocket  attached  to  the  left  side. 
An  angel  is  placed  at  his  head,  and  a  dog,  with  a  large  bone  in  his  paws,  at 
his  feet.  There  is  no  inscription  upon  it,  to  mark  the  person  to  whose  me- 
mory this  monument  was  erected.  Mr.  Cole  states  it  to  be  a  third  tomb  to 
William  Canynge ;  tradition,  however,  assigns  it  to  his  purse-bearer.* 

No.  5.  William  Canynge. f  Under  a  large  canopy  beneath  the  centre 
window  of  the  south  transept  is  an  altar  tomb  of  stone  supporting  the  re- 

*•  The  opinion  of  Mr.  Cole  on  this  subject  is  extremely  doubtful,  as  it  seems  very  improbable  that 
the  same  individual  should  have  three  distinct  monuments,  all  immediately  adjoining  to  each  other. 
The  traditional  account,  on  the  other  hand,  most  likely  approximates  the  truth,  for  though  it  may 
not  be  the  monument  of  the  purse-bearer,  it  is  certainly  that  of  some  person  intimately  connected 
with  Canynge.  If  the  existence  of  such  a  person  as  Thomas  Rowley,  a  priest,  and  the  confidential 
friend  of  that  distinguished  character,  could  be  fully  ascertained,  I  should  have  little  hesitation  in 
ascribing  it  to  him.  It  is,  however,  certain  that  Thomas  Rowley,  a  merchant,  was  interred  in  St.  John's 
church,  in  Bristol,  where  a  brass  commemorates  his  name.  Cole's  MS.S.  in  the  British  Mu- 
seum, vol.  x.  p.  51. 

f  The  following  extract  from  a  volume  of  the  Parish  Register  of  St.  Mary  RedclifFe,  for  the  years 
between  1678  and  1 694  inclusive,  furnishes  many  curious  particulars  relating  to  Canynge,  and  to  the 
church  which  we  are  illustrating. 

"  William  Cannings,  burgess  and  merchant  of  Bristol,  by  his  deed,  dated  the  20th  of  October, 
1467,  and  in  the  —  year  of  King  Edward  the  4th,  did  give  unto  the  vicar  and  wardens,  and  also  to  the 
senior  and  major  part  of  all  the  parishioners  of  the  church  of  the  blessed  Mary  of  Redcliff,  in  Bristol, 
the  sum  of  ,£340  of  current  money,  upon  condition  that  the  said  vicar  and  churchwardens  and  their 
successors  for  ever  should  for  that  gift  and  with  the  said  money  sufficiently  repair,  or  cause  to  be  re- 
paired and  re-edified,  the  ruinous  buildings,  tenements,  and  houses  whatsoever  of  the  said  church, 
and  with  the  rents  and  issues  of  the  land  and  tenements  of  the  same  church  should  provide,  find,  and 
give  unto  two  chaplains,  called  St.  Mary's  Priests,  nine  marks  apiece  per  ann.  To  two  clerks, 
sufficiently  instructed  in  reading  and  singing,  at  £2.  \3s.  Ad.  apiece,  and  for  executing  the 
sexton's  office  £1.  6s.  8d.  with  divers  other  gifts,  as  per  the  record  of  the  same  deed  in  the  great 
red  book,  fol.  291,  it  may  appear. 


WILLIAM    CANYNCE.  19 

cumbent  effigies  of  a  man  and  a  woman.  The  first  is  dressed  in  Mayor's  robes, 
and  the  second  according  to  the  fashion  of  the  times.  The  inscription,  on  the 
back  of  this  tomb,  is  as  follows  : 

More  he  gave  to  the  said  vicar,  churchwardens,  and  parishioners,  to  the  use  aforesaid,  certain 
jewels  of  Sir  Theobald  Knight,  which  were  pawned  to  him  for  160  pounds  of  like  money. 

He  founded  one  chantry  to  the  honour  of  God  and  St.  Catherine,  and  another  chantry  to  the 
honour  of  God  and  St.  George.  And  endowed  such  chantry  with  lands  of  the  clear  value  of  £10  per 
annum  towards  the  maintenance  of  each  chantry  priest. 

He  devised  and  gave  by  his  will,  dated  January  14th,  1474,  and  in  the  8th  year  of  King  Edward 
the  4th,  five  tenements,  with  the  vaults  and  cellars  thereto  adjoining  and  belonging,  being  in  and 
about  the  Trough-house,  going  between  St.  Nicholas  street  and  Baldwin-street,  unto  Elizabeth  Can- 
ninge,  late  wife  to  John  Canninge  his  son,  for  term  of  life;  the  reversion  of  her  life  to  Elizabeth 
Canninge  his  niece,  daughter  of  Thomas  Canninge  his  brother,  late  grocer  and  alderman  of  London, 
and  to  her  heirs  :  and  ordained  by  his  will,  that  for  want  of  such  issue,  the  Mayor  and  Common 
Council  of  Bristol,  and  the  Proctors  of  Bedcliffe,  for  the  time  being,  should  sell  the  said  tenements, 
and  divide  the  money  thereof  coming  to  the  uses  following,  viz.  the  one-half  to  be  delivered  to  the 
said  proctors  for  the  use  and  sustentation  of  the  said  chantry  of  St.  Catherine  and  St.  George,  and  the 
other  half  to  be  devised  to  the  Chamber  of  Bristol,  for  the  use  and  common  profit  of  the  town.  He 
was  bountiful  to  the  poor  in  Bristol,  and  to  the  poor  of  Westbury  upon  Trim  in  the  county  of  Glocr. 
He  founded  an  alms-house  upon  Bedcliffe  Hill,  and  gave  every  one  of  his  poor  there  20s.  apiece. 

He  gave  £20  to  the  house  of  the  Friars  Minors,  and  £10  apiece  to  the  mendicant  friars  in  Bris- 
tol, viz.  the  Friars  Preachers,  Friars  Augustines,  and  Friars  Carmelites.  He  was  liberal  to  all  fraternities 
in  Bristol,  and  gave  the  church  of  RedclifFhis  great  ledger  books.  He  was  bountiful  to  all  his  servants, 
and  gave  60  pounds  to  all  the  poor  blind  and  lame  dwelling  in  Bristol. 

Then  he  gave  and  devised  divers  other  lands  and  tenements  in  Bristol  to  his  nephew  William 
Cannings,  and  the  heirs  of  his  body;  and  for  want  thereof,  the  same  to  remain  to  his  niece  Elizabeth 
Canninge  and  the  heirs  of  her  body;  and  for  want  thereof,  that  the  lands  should  be  sold  by  the 
Mayor  and  Common  Council  of  Bristol  and  the  Wardens  of  Redcliff,  and  that  the  money  thereof  pro- 
ceeding should  be  devised  (divided)  to  the  use  aforesaid,  viz.  the  one  half  to  the  use  of  the  said  chauntries, 
and  the  other  half  for  the  use  and  common  profit  of  the  town,  as  appears  in  the  great  Orphan  Book, 
fol.  200. 

The  said  William  Cannings,  being  afterwards  dean  of  the  collegiate  church  and  college  of  Westbury, 
founded  an  alms-house  at  Westbury  for  six  poor  men  and  six  poor  women,  to  be  continually  placed 
therein;  and  ordained  that  one  of  the  men  should  always  be  presented  to  the  said  alms-house  by  the 
Mayor  of  Bristol  for  the  time  being.  And  one  woman  continually  presented  by  the  Mayoress  of  Bris- 
tol, with  consent  of  her  sister  ,the  late  Mayor'swife,  as  often  as  any  such  place  should  be  void. 

Elizabeth  Canninge,  niece  of  the  said  William  Canninge,  married  with  Mr.  John  Houlden,  of  Lon- 
don, draper,  and  had  issue  between  them  Richard  Houlden,  who  at  the  age  of  three  years  deceased ; 
and  afterwards  the  said  Elizabeth  deceased  without  any  issue ;  and  the  said  John  Houlden  being  possessed 
of  the  said  tenements  which  were  devised  by  his  said  wife,  and  holding  the  same  by  the  courtesie  of 
England,  sold  his  interest  therein  to  the  Mayor'  and  Recorder  and  two  Aldermen  of  the  town  of  Bristol ; 
and  after  the  mayor  and  commonalty  of  Bristol,  and  the  vicar,  chaplains,  and  proctors  of  Redcliff,  with 
the  consent  of  the  senior  part  of  the  parishioners  of  Redcliffe,  for  a  certain  sum  of  money,  to  be  paid  to 

D   2 


20  REDCLIFFE    CHURCH. 

"  William  Cannings,  ye  richest  marchant  of  yc  towne  of  Bristow,  after- 
wards chosen  5  times  Mayor  of  y°  said  towne  for  the  good  of  the  common 
wealth  of  the  same :  he  was  in  order  of  priesthood  7  years,  and  afterwards 
Dean  of  Westbury,  and  died  the  7th  Novem.  1474,  which  said  William  did 
build,  within  the  said  town  of  Westbury,  a  college  (with  his  canons),  and  the 
said  William  did  maintain  by  space  of  8  years,  800  handycrafts  men,  besides 
carpenters  and  masons,  every  day  100  men.  Besides,  King  Edward  the  IVth 
had  of  the  said  William  3000  marks  for  his  peace  to  be  had  in  2470  tons  of 
shipping." 

"  These  are  the  names  of  his  shiping  and  their  burthens : — The  Mary 
Canynges,  400  tons;  The  Mary  and  John,  900;  The  Kathrine,  140;  The 
Little  Nicholas,  140;  The  Kathrine  of  Boston,  220;  The  Mary  Redcliff,  500; 
The  Galliot,  050 ;  The  Mary  Batt,  220 ;  The  Margaret,  200 ;  A  ship  in  Ire- 
land,  100."* 

the  chamber  of  Bristol  and  the  proctors  of  Redcliffe,  to  the  uses  aforesaid,  sold  all  the  said  tenements 
to  the  said  Mayor,  Recorder,  and  two  Aldermen,  as  by  their  deed,  dated  in  the  1st  year  of  King  Edward 
the  5th,  1483,  which  is  recorded  in  the  great  Red  Book,  247,  where  it  may  appear. 

William  Spencer,  executor  of  the  last  Will  of  William  Canninge  aforesaid,  gave  to  the  Mayor  and 
commonalty  of  Bristol,  SJl.  6s.  8d.  to  the  intent  following,  viz.  twenty  pounds  he  appointed  should  be 
freely  lent  to  the  Mayor  for  the  time  being,  during  the  term  of  his  mayoralty,  and  so  to  have  con- 
tinued from  mayor  to  mayor  for  ever.  The  other  at  67/.  6s.  Rd.  he  appointed  should  be  lent  to  the 
Bayliffs  of  the  said  town,  and  they  to  enjoy  the  same  for  the  time  of  their  being  in  their  office,  paying 
therefore  weekly  Is.  per  week  to  the  priest  of  St.  George's  Chapel  on  every  Saturday,  who  shall  pre- 
sently distribute  the  same  to  the  poor  in  the  alms-house  in  Lewens  Mead :  which  the  said  William 
Spencer  built  with  the  money  and  goods  of  the  said  William  Cannings,  as  appears  in  the  great  Red 
Book,  folio  317. 

Moreover  he  bequeathed  to  certain  feoffees,  one  messuage  lying  on  the  back  of  Bristol,  now  in 
the  tenure  of  Richard  Pley,  of  the  yearly  rent  of  four  pounds,  on  condition  that  the  said  feoffees  and  their 
heirs  for  ever  should  provide  every  year,  with  the  profits  of  the  said  tenement,  three  priests  sufficiently 
instructed  in  sacred  divinity  to  preach  the  word  of  God  in  the  parish  church  of  St.  Mary  Redcliffe, 
or  the  yard  of  the  said  Church,  before  the  mayor  and  commons  of  the  said  town,  and  other  devout 
people  thither  resorting  in  the  Feast  of  Pentecost,  and  to  pay  every  of  the  priests  there  so  preaching 
6s.  8d.  To  the  mayor  for  the  preacher's  dinner  at  his  table,  3s.  4d.  each  day.  To  the  clerk  and  sexton 
for  ringing  the  bell,  and  placing  the  forms  for  the  mayor  and  common  council,  twelve-pence  per  diem. 

The  residue  of  the  rents  he  appointed  should  remain  towards  payment  of  quitrents,  the  repairing 
the  same  tenements,  and  the  common  profit  of  the  town,  as  appears  in  the  said  book  and  leaf." 

*  The  preceding  part  of  this  epitaph  has  most  likely  been  translated  from  William  of  Worcester's 
Itinerary,  (p.  81,  99.)  and  is  presumed  to  be  of  much  later  date  than  the  death  of  Canynge.  It  is 
singular  that  his  buildings  at  Redcliffe  Church  are  not  mentioned  in  the  above  epitaph. 


INSCRIPTION  ON  CANYNGE's  TOMB.  21 

"  No  age,  no  time,  can  wear  out  well  woon  fame, 

The  stones  themselves  a  statly  work  doth  shew, 
From  senceless  grave  we  ground  may  mens  good  name, 

And  noble  minds  by  ventrous  deeds  we  know. 
A  lanterne  cleer  setts  forth  a  candele  light, 
A,  worthy  act  declares  a  worthy  wight ; 
The  buildings  rare,  that  here  you  may  behold, 
To  shrine  his  bones  deserves  a  tombe  of  gold. 
The  famous  fabricke  which  he  here  hath  donne, 
Shines  in  its  sphere  as  glorious  as  the  sonne  , 
What  needs  more  words,  the  future  world  he  sought, 
And  set  the  pomp  and  pride  of  this  at  nought. 
Heaven  was  his  aim,  let  heaven  be  still  his  station, 
That  leaves  such  work  for  others  imitation." 

No.  6.  is  an  altar  tomb,  on  which  lies  the  effigy  of  a  man  in  priest's 
robes.  The  head  is  shaved,  and  the  hands  are  raised,  as  if  in  the  act  of  devo- 
tion. This  monument  is  commonly  ascribed  to  William  Canynge*  as  Dean  of 
Westbury .  The  head,  however,  is  very  different  to  that  on  the  other  tomb ; 
and  both  have  the  appearance  of  being  portraits.  This  of  No.  6  presents  a 
very  extraordinary  face: — a  long  aquiline  nose;  a  narrow  projecting  chin; 
high  cheek  bones,  and  very  thin  cheeks,  combine  to  produce  a  very  singular 
countenance.  At  the  feet  of  this  statue  is  a  small  figure  of  a  man,  apparently 
in  great  bodily  agony.  The  following  inscription,  on  a  loose  board,  is  some- 
times attached  to  this  tomb: — 

"  Hie  inferius  tumulatur  corpus  nobilis,  circumspecti  magnaeque  indus- 
trial vli,  Willi.  Canyngs,  dudum  mercatoris  et  quinquies  majoris  istius  villae 
et  postea  in  ordine  sacerdotali  per  septennium  instituti,  ac  Decani  de  West- 
bury  ;  qui  in  ista  ecclesia  duas  Cantarias  perpetuas  Duorum  Capellanorum : 
viz'  Unam  in  Honorem  S1?  Georgii,  et  alteram  in  Honorem  S"?  Catharine  ac 
etiam  unura  clericum  stabiliri  fecit  et  Mariae  Virgini  Sacravit  cum  sua  Jo- 
hanna.    Quorum  animabus  propitietur  Deus.     Amen," 

No.  7.     William  Coke.     Near  the  principal  monument  of  Canynge  is 

*  Canynge's  Will,  according  to  Will.  Worcester.  Itin.83.is  dated  12th  Nov.  H74,  and  he  died 
17th  of  that  month. — "  His  obiit  was  yerely  celebrated,  for  which,  in  the  year  14/5,  there  is  charged 
in  the  annual  account, 

"  For  our  Master  William  Canynge's  obiit  at  Lammas-day,  as  the  composition  specyfyeth,  2/.  17*.  Od. 
—Paid  for  our  Master  William  Canynge's  years  mynde,  2/.  11*.  8d.— At  his  days  requiem,  Ol.  ijs.  Od. 
—For  the  holy  cake  for  52  Sundays,  wax,  5cL  per  Sunday,  It.  7s.  8d.—To  Sir  Thomas  Hawkysoke  for 
his  years  wages,  61.  13s.  4d.-~To  Sir  Perse  Welles  for  his  years  wages,  6/.  13*.  Ad."—  Barrett,  582. 


22  REDCLIFFE    CHURCH. 

a  flat  stone,  on  which  are  engraved  representations  of  a  large  knife,  a  skim* 
mer,  and  this  inscription  : — 

"  Hie  jacet  WiLLfn  Coke  quondam  servitii  Willmi.  Canynges  mercatore 
ville  Bristole  ans.  ale  propitietur  Deus.     Amen." 

No.  8.  Is  a  flat  stone  in  the  south  transept,  with  an  inscription  to  the 
memory  "  of  John  Tilly,  who  died  22  February  1658,  and  Elizabeth  his 
sister,  who  died  7  September,  1660  " 

No.  9.  John  Blecker,  or  Bleaker,  and  Richard  Coke.  A  flat  stone 
in  the  south  transept,  with  a  cross  upon  it,  and  having  a  rim  of  brass  running 
round  its  edges,  bears  the  two  following  inscriptions : — 

"  Hie  jacet  Johes  Blecker  sen  pandoxator  cujus  aie  propicietur  Deus. 
Amen." 

"  Hie  jacent  Ricardus  Coke,  et  Tibota  ux.  ejus.  Quorum  aiabus,  pro- 
pitieturefis.   Amen." 

John  Blecker,  Mr.  Barrett  supposes  to  have  been  one  of  Mr.  Canynge's 
servants.   The  term  pandoxator  is  translated  both  by  him  and  Cole,  "  Brewer." 

No.  10.  John  Brook.  Near  the  altar  are  engraved  representations  of 
a  man  and  woman,  on  a  brass  plate,  inlaid  in  a  flat  stone,  with  one  shield,  and 
blank  places  for  three  others.    The  following  inscription  is  given  by  Barrett. 

"  Hie  jacet  corpus  venerabilis  viri  Johis  Brook,  quondam  servientis  ad 
legem  illustrissimi  principis  felicis  memoriae  regis.  Henrici  octavi  et  justiciari 
ejusdem  regis  ad  assisas  in  partibus  occidentalibus  Angliae,  et  capitalis  sene- 
schalli  illius  honorabilis  domus  et  monasterii  Beatae  Mariae  de  Glasconia.  in 
com.  Somcet,  qui  quidem  Johis  obiit  25  die  mens.  Decembris,  Anno  Dom, 
millesimo,  quingentesimo,  xxn,  et  juxta  earn  requiescit.  Johanna  uxor  ejus 
una  filiarum  et  haeredum  Ricardi  Amerike,  quorum  animabus  propitietur 
Deus,  Amen." 

No.  1 1 .  John  Jay.  Near  the  altar  is  a  flat  stone,  inlaid  with  brasses, 
on  one  of  which  are  engraved  two  figures,  of  a  man  and  a  woman,  and  on 
another  fourteen  other  figures  of  children.  On  the  stone  are  brass  shields, 
with  monograms,  and  arms.     Beneath  their  feet  is  the  following  inscription  : 

"  Hie  jacent  Johis  Jay  quondam  vicecomes  istius  villae,  et  Johanna  ux. 
ej.  q.  quidem  Johis  obiit  .  .  .  die  .  .  .  mens.  .  .  .  A0.  Dm.  m,cccc,lxxx,  quor. 
aiabs  pprop.  de  Ame." 

John  Jay  was  sheriff  of  Bristol,  and  a  merchant  of  eminence.  His  wife 
was  sister  to  William  of  Worcester,  as  appears  from  the  following  notice  in 


JOHN  JAY — THOMAS   MEDE.  23 

his  Itinerary,  p.  267. — "  Johannes  Jay  secundus  maritus  Johannae  Sororis 
meae  obiit  die  15  mensis  Maii  anno  Christi." 

No.  12.  Thomas  Mede.  At  the  eastern  end  of  the  north  aile,  is  a  very 
handsome  monument,  consisting  of  an  altar  tomb,  surmounted  by  a  richly 
ornamented  canopy.  Recumbent  on  the  former  are  effigies  of  the  deceased, 
and  of  his  wife,  with  their  heads  resting  on  cushions,  and  having  two  figures 
of  angels  supporting  the  pillow.  The  plinth  of  the  tomb,  as  well  as  the  back 
and  sides,  are  covered  with  panelling  and  tracery.  Immediately  over  the 
tomb  are  five  crocketed  canopies,  with  pinnacles,  &c.  and  the  whole  is  sur- 
mounted with  a  richly  sculptured  frieze  and  parapet.  On  the  verge  is  this 
imperfect  inscription : 

" pdict.  Thome  Mede  ac  ter  majoris  istius  ville  Bristoll :  q.  obiit 

xx.  diefnes  Decebis,  A.  Dm.   m.  cccc.  lxxv  qm.  anabs  pper." 

Thomas  Mede  was  Sheriff  of  Bristol  in  1452,  and  subsequently  thrice 
mayor  of  that  city.  He  had  a  country  seat  at  Nayland,  then  called  Mede's- 
Place,  in  the  parish  of  Wraxal,  and  county  of  Somerset. — Barrett,  Hist. 
Bristol,  p.  .585.     Collinson's  Somersetshire,  vol.  iii.  156. 

No.  13.  Philip  Mede.  Attached  to  the  former  monument,  and  of  the 
same  style  and  character,  but  without  any  effigy,  is  another  to  the  memory  of 
Philip  Mede,  with  the  following  inscriptions  on  labels,  and  engraved  brasses 
with  figures  of  a  man  and  two  women. 

"  S'jL  trinitas  un'  de  miserere  nobis 

Pater  de  cffilis  deus  miserere  nobis." 

Philip  Mede  was  brother  to  Thomas  Mede,  whose  monument  has  just 
been  described.  He  appears  to  have  been  several  times  mayor  of  Bristol,  and 
to  have  represented  that  city  in  two  parliaments  held  at  Coventry  and  at 
Westminster,  in  the  thirty-eighth  year  of  the  reign  of  Henry  the  Sixth.  His 
Will  is  dated  Jan.  11,  1471,  and  directs  his  body  to  be  buried  at  the  altar  of 
St.  Stephen,  in  Redcliffe  Church.— Barrett,  153,  680,  6b  1.— Cole's  MSS. 

Mrs.  Fortune  Little.  A  small  marble  slab,  at  the  north-east  angle  of 
the  transept,  is  inscribed  with  the  following  lines  by  Mrs.  H.  More. 

"  Near  this  pillar  are  deposited  the  remains  of  Mrs.  Fortune  Little, 
widow  of  Mr.  John  Little,  late  of  this  parish.  She  died  June  28, 1777,  aged  57. 

Oh  !  could  this  verse  her  bright  example  spread,  . 
And  teach  the  living  while  it  praised  the  dead : 
Then,  reader,  should  it  speak  her  hope  divine : 
Not  to  record  her  faith  but  strengthen  thine ; 


24  REDCLIFFE    CHURCH. 

Then  should  her  ev'ry  virtue  stand  confess' d, 
'Till  every  virtue  kindled  in  thy  breast : 
But,  if  thou  slight  the  monitory  strain, 
And  she  has  lived  to  tbee  at  least  in  vain, 
Yet  let  her  death  an  awful  lesson  give, 
The  dying  Christian  speaks  to  all  that  live; 
Enough  for  her,  that  here  her  ashes  rest, 
Till  God's  own  plaudit  shall  her  worth  attest. 

Hannah  Mare. 

Sir  John  Inyn.  In  St.  Mary's  chapel  is  a  large  stone,  with  a  "brass  plate 
inlaid  in  the  centre,  bearing  an  engraved  figure  of  the  deceased  in  his  judge's 
robes.    On  a  slip  of  brass  round  the  margin  is  this  inscription  : 

"  Hie  jacet  Johannes  Inyn  Miles  capitalis  justieiarius  domini  regis  ad 
placita  coram  ipso  rege  tenenda,  qui  obiit  24  die  Marcii,  Anno  Domini,  Mil- 
lesimo  c.c.c.c.xxxix.  cujus  animae  propitietur  Deus,  Amen." 

Few  particulars,  besides  those  mentioned  in  the  inscription,  are  known 
respecting  this  judge.  Barrett  states,  that  his  country  seat  was  at  Bishop  worth, 
near  Filwood,  now  a  farm  house. 

Everardus  le  Frensshe,  or  le  Fraunceys.  Near  the  centre  of  the 
cross  aile  stands  a  plain  altar  tomb,  supporting  the  recumbent  figure  of  a  per- 
son in  magisterial  robes.  The  inscription,  which  is  now  nearly  erazed,  was 
as  follows : 

"  Hie  jacet  Everardus  le  French,  qui  in  hac  ecclesia  duas  fundavit  can- 
tarias  et  duas  alias  in  ecclesia  St.  Nicolai,  et  fuit  ter  maior  hujus  villae,  cujus 
animae  propitietur  Deus.  Amen,  m.ccc.l." 

Everardus  le  Fraunceys  was  mayor  of  Bristol  in  the  years  1333,  1337, 
and  1339,  and  member  for  that  city  in  three  different  parliaments  held  at 
Westminster  in  the  twenty-first  and  twenty-second  years  of  the  reign  of 
Edward  the  Third. — Barrett,  Hist.  Bristol,  p.  151,  675. 

Thomas  Young.  On  a  marble  monument  in  the  transept,  is  this  in- 
scription : — 

"  Hie  inferius  sub  lapide  marmorea  sepelitur  corpus  Thomas  Young 
armigeri,  nuper  de  villa  Bristol,  ac  filii  ac  haeredis  Thomae  Young  unius 
justiciorum  in  communi  Banco,  et  Jocosae  uxoris  ejus  qui  quidem  Thomas 
obiit  15  Maii,  A.  D.  1506,  quorum  animabus  propitietur  Deus,  Amen." 

Thomas  Young  was  several  times  representative  for  Bristol  during  the 
reign  of  Henry  the  Sixth.— Barrett,  Hist.  Bristol,  p.  153,  583. 

The  Rev.  Thomas  Broughton   was  buried  in  the  north  aile  of  this 


SIR.  JOHN  INYN. — THOMAS  YOUNG.  25 

Church,  in  December,  1774.  He  was  born  in  London,  July,  1704.  Bishop 
Sherlock  presented  him  with  the  living  and  prebendship  of  Bedminster  and 
Redcliffe.  He  was  one  of  the  original  writers  in  the  Biographia  Britannica, 
and  also  author  of  a  musical  drama,  entitled,  "  Hercules." — See  Jones's  Bio- 
graphia Dramatica,  vol.  i.  p.  72. 

William  Barrett.  Attached  to  a  column  in  the  south  transept  is  a 
small  marble  tablet,  commemorative  of  William  Barrett,  F.  S.  A.  Surgeon, 
and  author  of  "  The  History  and  Antiquities  of  Bristol."  This  gentleman 
having  become  the  dupe  of  young  Chatterton,  unfortunately  incorporated 
many  of  the  fictions  of  that  juvenile  bard  in  his  history,  and  thereby  rendered 
the  whole  apocryphal.  It  is  evident  that  Mr.  Barrett  collected  a  large  mass 
of  materials,  but  was  incompetent  to  the  task  of  selecting,  arranging,  and 
discriminating.  Many  of  his  papers  were  left  to  Mr.  Gapper ;  those  relating 
to  Chatterton  were  disposed  of  to  the  Rev.  Mr.  Kerrich  of  Cambridge,  for 
Dr.  Glynn,  and  were  afterwards  deposited  in  the  British  Museum.  Sir  John 
Smith,  of  Ashton,  purchased  some  MSS.  at  Barrett's  sale. 

Sir  William  Penn**  Fixed  to  a  column  in  the  south  transept  is  a 
flat  slab,  with  the  following  inscription,  which  so  fully  details  the  character 
and  public  services  of  the  person  it  commemorates,  that  it  is  scarcely  neces- 
sary to  say  more  at  present. 

"  To  ye  Just  Memory  of  Sr  Will.  Pen  K'  &  sometimes  Generall,  borne  at 
Bristol  An.  1621  son  of  Captain  Giles  Penn  Severall  years  Consul  for  ye 
English  in  the  Mediterranean  of  ye  Penns  of  Penns  Lodge  in  the  County  of 
Wilts  &  those  Penns  of  Penn  in  yc  C.  of  BvcKs  &  by  his  Mother  from  ye 
Gilberts  in  ye  County  of  Somerset  Originally  from  yorksheire  Adicted  from 
his  youth  to  Maritime  affaires,  He  was  made  Captain  at  ye  yeares  of  2 1;  Rear- 
Admirall  of  Ireland  at  23;  Vice  Admirall  of  Ireland  at  25;  Admiral  to  yc 
Streights  at  29;  Vice  Admirall  of  England  at  31;  &  Generall  in  ye  first  Duch 
Warres  at  32 ;  Whence  retireing  in  An0  1655 ;  He  was  Chosen  a  Parliment  man 
for  ye  Towne  of  Weymouth  1660:  made  Commissioner  of  yc  Admiralty,  & 
Navy  Gouernor  of  yc  Towne  &  forts  of  King-Sail,  Vice-Admirall  of  Munster, 
&  a  Member  of  that  Prouinciall  Counseill,  &  in  Anno  1664  was  Chosen  Great 

*  In  a  very  interesting  work,  by  Thomas  Clarkson,  M.  A.  just  published,  are  some  notices  of 
Admiral  Penn,  with  a  very  ample  memoir  of  his  son,  William  Penn.     2  vols.  8vo.  1813. 

1   have  unfortunately  lost,  or  mislaid,  some  authentic  particulars  of  the  Admiral,  which  were 
communicated  to  me  by  one  of  his  descendants. 

E 


26  REDCLIFFE    CHURCH. 

Captain-Commander  under  his  Royal  Highnesse ;  In  ye  Signall  &  Most  Eui- 
dently  successfull  fight  against  ye  Dutch  fleet : 

"  Thvs  He  Took  Leave  of  the  Sea,  His  old  Element,  Bvt  Continued  still 
is  other  Employs  Till  I669  at  what  Time,  Throvgh  bodely  Infirmitys  (Con- 
tracted By  yc  Care  &  fatigve  of  Pvbliqve  Affairs)  He  Withdrew,  Prepared  & 
Made  for  his  End ;  &  With  a  Gentle  &  even  Gale  In  mvch  Peace  Ariu'd  and 
Ancord  In  his  Last  and  Best  Port,  At  Wanstead  In  ye  Covnty  of  Essex  ye 
16  Sept:  167O,  being  then  but  49  &  4  Months  old. 

"  To  whose  Name  and  Merit,  His  Suruiuing  Lady  hath  Erected  this  Re- 
membrance." 


CHAP.  IV. 

Painted  glass. — Church  furniture. — Cross. — Paintings. — Thunder  Storm. 

In  the  course  of  the  preceding  pages,  it  has  been  stated,  that  RedclifFe 
church  contained  two  chantries,  or  altars,  dedicated  to  St.  George  and  to  St. 
Catharine :  Barret  further  states,  that  there  were  others  to  St.  Blaze,  St.  Ste- 
phen, and  St.  Nicholas.  William  of  Worcester  intimates  that  the  principal 
porch  was  dedicated  to  the  Virgin  : — "  Ubi  Sancta  et  beata  virgo  venerato." 
He  also  says,  that  "  the  principal  chapel  of  St.  Mary  contains  effigies  of  kings 
curiously  wrought  in  freestone,"  and  that  the  "  entrance  door-way  is  curi- 
ously wrought."  In  one  of  the  windows  of  the  north  transept  are  some  frag- 
ments of  ancient  stained  glass,  which  appear  coeval  with  the  church.  On  one 
piece  is  represented  six  women  in  a  boat,  possibly  alluding  to  a  particular 
event  connected  with  the  church.  There  are  also  some  diagrams,  arms,  and 
letters,  which  probably  marked  certain  benefactors  who  contributed  towards 
finishing  the  fabric.  Figures  of  the  virgin  and  child,  with  crowns  on  their 
heads,  are  pretty  perfect. 

Among  the  MSS.  that  have  been  discovered  in,  and  relating  to  Redcliff 
church,  the  following  is  entitled  to  record  here,  because  it  was  certainly  in 
existence  before  Chatterton's  birth.  A  copy  of  this  paper  was  communicated 
to  the  Society  of  Antiquaries  of  London,  in  the  year  1736,  by  Mr.  Theobald. 
The  original  is  said  to  have  been  in  the  possession  of  Mr.  Browning,  of 
Barton-Hill,  near  Bristol,  who,  I  learn  from  Lady  Millman,  a  relation  of 


ANCIENT    SEPULCHRE.  27 

Mr.  Browning's,  also  possessed  some  MS.  poems  of  Chatterton,  never  printed. 
Walpole  published  the  following  account  in  the  first  edition  of  his  Anecdotes 
of  Painting,  1762;  but  his  copy  was  very  inaccurate,  and  has  never  been 
corrected.*  Barrett,  in  his  History  of  Bristol,  repeats  it  from  Walpole.  In 
the  Nugre  Antiquajf  it  was  printed  more  fully  and  accurately,  and  from  that 
work  the  following  is  copied. 

"  The  under-written  memorandum  was  found  (among  other  curiosities)  in  the  cabi- 
net of  the  late  John  Browning,  Esq.  of  Barton,  near  Bristol." 

"  Item.  That  Maister  CanyngeJ  hath  deliver'd  this  4th  day  of  July,  in 
the  year  of  our  Lord  1470,  to  Maister  Nicholas  Petters,  vicar  of  St.  Mary  Red- 
cliffe ;  Moses  Conterin,  Philip  Barthelmew,  procurators  §  of  St.  Mary  Red- 
cliffe,  aforesaid ;  a  new  sepulchre  well  gilt  with  golde,  and  a  civer  thereto. 

"  Item,  An  image  of  God  Almighty  rising  out  of  the  same  sepulchre, 
with  all  the  ordinance  that  'longeth  thereto,  (that  is  to  say)  a  lathe  made  of 
timber  and  the  iron-work  thereto. 

"  Item,  Thereto  'longeth  Heaven,  made  of  timber  and  stain'd  clothes. 

"  Item,  Hell  made  of  timber,  and  iron-work  thereto,  with  Divels  to  the 
number  of  13. 

"  Item,  4  Knights  armed,  keeping  the  sepulchre,  with  their  weapons  in 
their  hands;  that  is  to  say,  2  axes  and  2  spears  with  2  pav6s.  || 

"  Item,  4  payr  of  Angels'  wings  for  4  Angels,  made  of  timber  and  well 
painted. 

"  Item,  The  Fadre,  the  Crowne  and  Visage,  the  ball  with  a  Cross  upon 
it,  well  gilt  with  fine  gould. 

"  Item,  The  Holy  Ghosht  coming  out  of  Heaven  into  the  sepulchre. 

"  Item,  Longeth  to  the  4  Angels  4  Chevelers."  $ 

*  It  is  evident  that  Chatterton  was  acquainted  with  Walpole's  Anecdotes  of  Painters :  and  it  is 
very  probable  that  a  sight  of  this  document,  in  print,  not  only  induced  him  to  write  to  Walpole,  but  to 
commence  fabricator  of  ancient  writings. 

f  See  a  new  edition  of  this  work,  2  vols.  8vo.  1804,  with  additional  and  corrective  notes,  by  T. 
Park,  F.S.A. 

J  "  He  was  ordained  Alcolythe,  and  received  the  higher  orders  of  subdeacon,  deacon,  and  priest 
in  1467-8.  See  Tyrwhytt's  Introduction  to  Rowley's  Poems."  Park's  note  to  Nugae  Antiquae,  1—12. 
Walpole  spells  the  word  Cumings:  several  other  words  vary  in  the  two  works. 

§  Barret  has  proctors. 

||  "  A  pavice  was  a  large  shield  that  covered  the  whole  body."     Park. 

f[  Park  says  they  are  "  supports."    Lord  Orford  reads  Chevelures,  perukes. 

E  2 


28  REDCLIFFE    CHURCH. 

Among  the  ancient  relics,  formerly  attached  to  Redcliffe  church,  was  an 
old  Stone  Cross,  which  is  mentioned  by  William  of  Worcester,  and  by 
several  other  writers.  A  passage,  in  Ray's  "  Itineraries,"  p.  253,  contains  this 
notice  of  it  and  of  the  church : — "  June  19,  1662.  Saw  Ratcliff  church,  built 
by  one  Cannings.  It  is  in  the  form  of  a  cathedral  arched  with  stone,  well 
gilded  on  the  roof.  In  the  church-yard  is  a  fair  stone  cross,  whereat  are 
preached  four  sermons  every  year  ;  to  wit,  on  Good-Friday,  Easter  Sunday, 
Monday,  and  Tuesday."  William  of  Worcester's  words  are,  "  Crux  pul- 
cherrima  artificiose  operata  est  in  medio  dicti  cimiterii." 

Paintings  in  Redcliffe  Church. — At  the  east  end,  over  the  altar,  are  three 
large  pictures*  by  Hogarth, j-  representing  the  following  sacred  subjects ; 
viz. — 1.  The  Ascension  of  Christ ; — 2.  The  High  Priest  and  Servants  sealing  the 
Tomb  ; — and  3.  The  three  Marys  at  the  Sepulchre. 

It  is  incompatible  with  the  constitution  of  man  and  the  qualifications  of 
genius,  to  excel  in  different  branches  of  art,  or  to  acquire  positive  pre-emi- 
nence in  two  distinct  departments  of  science.  The  productions  of  Hogarth, 
among  those  of  several  other  justly  famed  artists,  serve  to  illustrate  this 
maxim.  In  pictures  of  comic  character,  rich  humour,  and  moral  satire ;  and 
particularly  in  displaying  the  human  figure  and  countenance  in  its  common 
and  popular  forms,  he  certainly  excelled  all  other  painters :  many  of  his  pic- 
tures were  also  executed  in  a  masterly  style  of  colouring,  grouping,  and  effect. 

*  These  were  hung  up  in  the  church  in  the  year  1757,  and  are  said  to  have  cost  500  guineas. 
The  lofty  eastern  window  is  closed  up  for  the  purpose  of  hanging  the  largest  of  these  paintings. 

f  More  volumes  and  essays  have  been  published  respecting  Hogarth  and  his  works,  than  of  any 
other  ancient  or  modern  artist.  Almost  every  picture  that  he  painted,  and  sketch  that  he  made,  has 
been  perpetuated  and  circulated  by  means  of  the  graver.  He  commenced  this  practice  himself,  and 
engraved  many  of  his  own  pictures.  Since  his  death,  both  John  and  Samuel  Ireland,  Dr.  Trusler, 
Cook,  and  Nichols  have  published  numerous  annotations  on  his  works,  and  prints  from  every  subject 
they  could  collect.  It  is  singular  that  only  one,  of  the  three  pictures  at  Redcliffe,  has  been  copied  and 
noticed  in  these  publications  :  and  it  is  equally  singular  that  this  print  (in  John  Ireland's  Illustrations) 
is  so  inaccurately  copied,  that  it  appears  as  if  "  done  "  from  memory,  rather  than  from  the  picture. 

Hogarth  was  certainly  an  artist  of  peculiar,  and  distinguished  talents.  He  stood  alone  in  art,  and 
formed  a  school  of  his  own.  He  was  at  once  the  pictorial  satirist,  monitor,  and  historian  of  the  age  in 
which  he  lived.  I  use  the  latter  term,  from  a  conviction  that  his  pictures  will  always  be  referred  to 
with  pleasure  and  advantage,  as  recording  the  features,  costume,  and  corporeal  characteristics  of  many 
eminent  and  illustrious  persons,  and  of  many  public  and  private  events  of  his  time. — See  a  very 
interesting  essay  "on  the  genius  and  character  of  Hogarth,"  by  Chas.  Lambe,  in  "  The  Reflector;" 
also  a  brief  memoir  of  him  in  Rees's  Cyclopaedia,  article  Hogarth,  by  T.  Phillips,  R.  A.  an  artist 
highly  qualified  to  appreciate  his  talents. 


THUNDER    STORM.  29 

Like  the  generality  of  artists,  he  was  occasionally  required  to  paint  subjects 
from  ancient  and  sacred  history  :  but  he  then  wandered  out  of  his  element,  and 
at  once  betrayed  a  want  of  judgment  and  of  taste.  In  the  three  pictures  at 
Redcliffe  church  this  is  exemplified  :  As  specimens  of  colouring  however  they 
possess  much  merit,  and  may  be  viewed  with  advantage  by  the  young  artist ; 
but  in  the  forms  and  expression  of  the  figures,  and  in  their  attitudes  and 
grouping,  we  seek  in  vain  for  propriety,  dignity,  or  elegance. 

Immediately  over  the  altar-table  is  a  picture,  representing  Jesus  restoring 
to  life  the  daughter  of  Jairus,  by  Henry  Tresham,  R.  A.  presented  in  1792  to 
the  church  by  the  painter's  uncle,  Sir  Clifton  Wintringham,  Bart. 

Thunder  Storm. — I  have  already  mentioned  the  result  of  lightning  on 
Redcliffe  church,  in  the  year  1445,  when  the  upper  part  of  the  spire  was 
thrown  down,  and  the  western  end  of  the  church  was  much  damaged.  In 
1812  I  had  an  opportunity  of  observing  the  appearances  and  effects  of  a 
violent  thunder  storm  in  this  edifice,  which  were  really  so  awful  and  grand, 
that  I  conceive  an  attempt  to  describe  them  will  neither  be  thought  irrelevant 
nor  unamusing.  Never  did  I  witness  a  scene  so  truly  sublime.  It  reminded 
me  of  necromancy  and  enchanted  palaces.  Busily  and  intently  engaged,  alone, 
in  surveying  this  large  church,  deciphering  the  old  inscriptions,  and  examin- 
ing the  monuments,  an  almost  sudden  darkness  came  on :  the  distant  pictures 
and  columns  became  scarcely  perceptible :  the  rain,  accompanied  with  large 
hail  stones,  fell  in  torrents  on  the  leaden  roof;  and  the  glass  of  the  windows 
seemed  in  imminent  danger  of  being  shivered  to  atoms.  A  heavy  cloud  ap- 
peared to  be  suspended  immediately  over  the  church,  and  discharged,  from 
its  swoln  bosom,  an  accumulation  of  water,  hail,  lightning,  thunder,  and  wind. 
In  any  situation  such  a  storm  must  have  been  terrific;  but  situated  as  I  was, 
in  the  midst  of  this  church,  impressed  with  a  recollection  of  the  destroyed 
spire ;  enveloped  in  gloom,  and  surrounded  by  knights  in  armour,  monkish 
effigies,  and  other  images  of  deceased  persons ;  the  effect  was  truly  sublime 
and  awful.  At  one  moment  the  whole  space  was,  as  Milton  terms  it,  "  dark- 
ness visible,"  when,  the  next  instant,  the  vivid  lightning  blazed  through  the 
long  ailes,  and  illuminated  every  object.  It  glanced  on  the  clustered  column, 
played  round  the  brazen  eagle,  flashed  on  the  supplicating  statues  :  alternate 
gloom  and  dazzling  glare  pervaded  the  church.  An  almost  incessant  peal  of 
thunder  continued  to  accompany  the  reiterated  flashes  of  lightning:  it  now 
seemed  exhausted,  but  only  to  come  on.  with  additional  fury  of  sound  and 


30  REDCLIFFE    CHURCH. 

more  awful  crashes.  Though  so  truly  terrific,  I  own  that  it  excited  more  of 
admiration  than  of  fear :  for  my  whole  faculties  were  absorbed,  and  seemingly 
entranced  in  contemplating  the  varied,  brilliant,  and  powerful  effects  of  the 
scene.  The  sensations  of  the  heart  were  suspended  or  over-powered  by  the 
more  powerful  emotions  of  the  soul. 

With  a  few  verbal  alterations,  the  following  passage  from  Walter  Scott 
is  at  once  apposite  to,  and  descriptive  of  this  scene  :— 

**  And  sudden,  through  the  dark'ned  air 

A  flash  of  lightning  came ; 
So  broad,  so  bright,  so  red  the  glare. 

The  fabric  seem'd  on  flame. 
Glanced  every  column  through  the  aile, 
Glanced  eve. ry  statue  clad  in  mail. 

Each  trophied  tomb,  each  sculptured  stone, 

Were  instant  seen  and  instant  gone  :— 
Seem'd  all  on  fire  within,  around, 

Deep  sacristy  and  altar  pale ; 
Shone  every  pillar  foliage  crown'd, 

And  glimmer'd  all  the  dead  men's  mail." 

Lay  of  the  Last  Minstrel,  Canto  VI. 


CHAP.  V. 

An  Essay  on  the  Life,  Character,  and  Writings  of  Thomas  Chattertobt. 


"  Never  ending,  still  beginning." 

"  And  yet  poor  Edwin  was  no  vulgar  boy; 
Deep  thought  oft  seem'd  to  fix  his  infant  eye  : 

Dainties  he  heeded  not,  nor  gaude,  nor  toy, 
Save  one  short  pipe  of  rudest  minstrelsy. 

Silent,  when  glad ;  affectionate  though  shy : 
And  now  his  look  was  most  demurely  sad ; 

And  now  he  laugh'd  aloud,  yet  none  knew  why ; 
The  neighbours  star'd  andsigh'd,  yet  bless'd  the  lad: 
Some  deem'd  him  zuond'rous  -wise,  and  some  believd  him  mad." 

Minstrel. 

Such  is  the  portrait  which  Beattie  has  drawn  of  his  imaginary  young  bard— 
the  Minstrel :  and  this  is  so  correct  a  delineation  of  Chatterton,  that  he  may 


THOMAS   CHATTERTON.  31 

be  considered  as  the  prototype.  Every  line,  and  touch,  defines  a  marked 
feature  of  this  youth;  and  at  once  portrays  his  mind  and  character. 

To  those  who  are  not  familiar  with  the  events  of  Chatterton's  life,  and 
with  the  complicated  and  voluminous  controversy  excited  by  his  writings,  it 
will  be  expedient  to  unfold  a  few  particulars :  without  some  knowledge  of 
which,  the  following  Essay  would  be  uninteresting  and  inexplicable. — Thomas 
Chatterton's  father  was  a  schoolmaster,  and  verger  of  Redcliffe  Church,  and 
died  before  the  birth  of  his  son,  who  was  born  Nov.  20,  1752.  He  continued 
under  the  care  of  his  mother,  and  in  Colston's  charity-school,  till  July  1,  1767, 
when  he  was  placed,  as  articled  clerk,  with  Mr.  Lambert,  an  attorney  of  Bris- 
tol. In  that  gentleman's  office  he  continued  three  years,  when  he  left  his 
native  place,  his  friends,  his  home,  and  his  only  social  comforts,  to  seek 
literary  fame,  and  acquire  an  honest  livelihood,  in  the  immense  metropolis  of 
the  British  empire.  Confident  in  the  powers  and  versatility  of  his  own  talents, 
he  vainly  conceived  that  a  large  fortune  might  be  acquired  by  the  exercise 
of  his  pen :  he  also  fancied  that  an  English  Maecenas  might  be  found,  to  vie 
with  the  illustrious  Roman,  in  the  proud  exercise  of  patronage ;  but  his  ex- 
pectations were  visionary,  his  hopes  were  blasted :  he  wrote  much,  for  little 
remuneration ;  he  struggled  some  time  with  penury,  and  want ;  and  at  length, 
in  a  moment  of  mental  derangement,  terminated  the  cares  of  life  by  a  dose  of 
poison,  in  August  1770.  Such  is  the  short  history  of  the  most  extraordinary 
youth  that  ever  lived.  His  various  essays  in  prose  and  verse,  display  a  vivid 
imagination,  and  singular  precosity  of  talent.  The  chief  of  his  works  have 
been  published  in  three  large  octavo  volumes,  but  he  caused  many  more  to  be 
written. 

The  life  and  character  of  Chatterton  is  one  of  those  subjects,  on  which 
the  essayist  may  expatiate  without  fearing  that  even  his  prolixity  will  be  tedi- 
ous, or  that  his  repetitions  will  be  censured  as  impertinent;  and  the  author  of 
the  present  work,  while  he  was  conscious  that  but  little  could  be  added  to 
the  speculations  of  his  predecessors,  on  a  topic  that  has  already  exhausted 
the  learning,  and  confounded  the  sagacity  of  our  most  celebrated  critics,  was 
yet  unwilling  to  commit  his  present  volume  to  the  world,  without  attempting 
to  gratify  the  natural  expectation  of  his  readers.  It  is  not  his  intention, 
however,  to  comment  at  length  on  the  various  difficulties  of  the  Rowleyan 
controversy,  or  to  dwell  with  minuteness  on  the  personal  history  of  the  youth 
to  whom  the  composition  of  the  disputed  productions  is  attributed;  convinced 
as  he  is,  that  the  poems  ascribed  to  Rowley,  are  the  effusions  of  a  stripling  of 


32  REDCLIFFE    CHURCH. 

the  eighteenth  century,  he  will  confine  himself  to  a  cursory  review  of  those 
prominent  features  in  the  character  of  Chatterton,  that  appear  to  indicate  his 
peculiar  aptitude  to  imitate  old  writings,  and  to  such  correllative  observations 
on  incidental  topics,  as  may  correct  the  errors,  or  supply  the  imperfections  of 
his  critics  and  biographers. 

The  only  question,  indeed,  that  remains  undecided,  regards  the  qualifi- 
cation of  Chatterton  to  produce  the  poems,  ascribed  to  Rowley ;  and  on  this 
point  I  wish  to  be  particular  and  explicit.  The  external  testimony  is  known 
to  every  one;  and  respecting  the  internal  evidence  of  the  poems  themselves, 
the  public  has  long  been  decided.  The  frequent  personification  of  abstract 
terms,  and  the  copious  employment  of  metaphysical  imagery ;  the  consistency 
with  which  the  characters  and  manners  are  supported ;  the  frequent  employ- 
ment of  words  and  phrases  unknown  to  the  age  in  which  Rowley  is  supposed 
to  have  flourished  ;  the  use  of  the  pindaric  measure ;  the  adoption  of  a  stanza 
unknown  in  its  finished  state  till  the  time  of  Prior;  the  varieties  of  metre; 
and  the  uniform  harmony  of  the  diction  and  the  verse ;  all  conspire  to  indi- 
cate the  existence  of  their  author  in  a  fastidious  and  cultivated  age ;  when 
the  poet  could  improve  his  first  rude  efforts  from  the  study  of  existing  models, 
and  combine  the  regularity  that  arises  from  experience,  with  the  native  energy 
of  genius. 

It  would  be  injustice,  indeed,  to  the  learned  and  able  advocates  for  the 
authenticity  of  the  poems,  to  deny  that  on  minute,  and  isolated  points  of 
dispute,  they  have  frequently  combated  with  success  the  positions  of  their 
antagonists.  But  the  extent  and  minuteness  of  their  researches,  is  in  itself 
the  strongest  argument  against  the  justice  of  their  conclusions :  had  the 
poems  been  authentic,  their  claims  to  antiquity  would  have  been  easily  sup- 
ported by  the  most  cursory  reference  to  the  works  of  our  earlier  poets :  the 
same  peculiarities  of  diction  and  phraseology  which  were  most  observable 
in  the  poems  of  the  Rowleyan  poet,  would  have  been  discovered  on  the 
surface  of  our  ancient  literature;  nor  would  a  Bryant  and  a  Sherwen  have 
been  content  to  triumph  in  the  justification  of  frequent  and  important  ano- 
malies, by  an  isolated  passage  in  some  obscure  writer,  discovered  after  the 
research  of  many  years,  and  brought  forward  with  all  the  ostentation  of 
decisive  authority.  It  may  be  true,  that  more  than  twenty  instances  of  the 
use  of  han,  combined  with  the  third  person  plural,  are  to  be  found  in  the 
writings  of  our  ancient  poets ;  but  such  evidence,  by  shewing  the  wfrequeucy 
of  this  and  similar  peculiarities,  demonstrates  the  poems  of  Rowley  to  be, 


PECULIARITIES  OF  CHATTERTON's  WRITINGS.  33 

even  in  their  grammatical  construction,  unlike  the  compositions  with  which 
they  are  the  most  easily  compared,  and  evinces  them  to  be  the  productions 
of  a  juvenile  imitator,  unable  to  distinguish  between  the  current  language 
of  our  forefathers,  and  their  mistakes  and  affected  irregularities. 

Were  it  possible  for  the  observer  of  life  and  manners  to  place  before 
him  an  imaginary  picture  of  embryo  genius,  and  to  contemplate  with  ideal 
enthusiasm  the  peculiarities  of  temper  and  of  habit  that  might  be  presumed 
most  strongly  to  foretell  the  future  expansion  of  latent  excellencies,  the 
creation  of  his  fancy  would  not  present  him  with  a  more  perfect  object  of 
scrutiny  or  of  admiration,  than  was  exhibited  by  Chatterton  during  his  boyish 
years.  ".  I  remember,  (says  Mrs.  Newton,)  his  early  thirst  for  pre-eminence, 
and  that,  before  he  was  five  years  old,  he  would  always  preside  over  his  play- 
mates as  their  master,  and  they  his  hired  servants.  His  spirits  were  rather 
uneven;  sometimes  so  gloomed,  that  for  several  days  together  he  would  say 
very  little,  and  that  by  constraint;  at  other  times  extremely  cheerful." 

While  he  exercised  his  juvenile  talents  in  the  composition  of  pieces 
which  his  seniors  and  instructors  might  have  vainly  endeavoured  to  equal, 
he  pursued  the  bias  of  his  genius  in  solitude  and  silence;  disdaining  a 
competition  in  which  the  glory  of  success  bore  no  comparison  with  the 
possible  mortification  of  defeat.  He  united  the  assiduity  of  the  student,  with 
those  habits  of  reflection,  which  give  life  and  beauty  to  the  materials  on 
which  they  operate ;  and  combined  the  pride  of  conscious  superiority,  the 
ambition  that  animates  to  the  pursuit  of  great  and  arduous  objects,  and  the 
practical  activity  and  perseverance,  that  are  necessary  to  sustain  the  flights 
and  embellish  the  labours  of  the  most  exalted  genius.  The  discipline,  in- 
deed, to  which  he  was  subjected,  confined  him,  during  his  early  years,  to  occa- 
sional and  desultory  efforts ;  but  the  observer  who  contemplates  in  the  charity- 
boy  of  Bristol,  the  future  representative  of  a  minstrel  of  the  15th  century, 
will  indulge  in  the  supposition,  that  during  his  evenings  of  school-boy  gloom, 
and  eccentric  meditation,  his  faculties  were  absorbed  in  the  combination  and 
creation  of  those  images  which  ennobled  the  struggles  of  Ella,  and  which 
diffuse  their  splendid  but  melancholy  lustre  on  the  beauty,  the  innocence,  and 
the  sorrows  of  his  bride. 

The  perseverance  and  the  enthusiasm  so  necessary  to  the  performance  of 
great  undertakings,  were  perverted  by  the  peculiar  bias  of  his  mind:  the  unn 
form  testimony  of  his  friends  asserts,  that  he  was  prone  to  artifice,  that  hq 
sometimes  contemplated  the  possibility  of  a  fraud,  like  that  which  we  suppose 


34  REDCLIFFE    CHURCH. 

him  to  have  accomplished;  that  all  the  stratagems  and  evasions  to  which  an 
individual  actually  committing  it  would  have  recourse,  were  observable  in  his 
conduct,  and,  that  he  confessed  himself  to  be  the  author  of  more  than  one 
composition  which  he  had  previously  given  to  his  friends  as  the  production 
of  Rowley. 

.  If  we  suppose  the  pretended  compositions  of  Rowley  to  be  the  writings 
of  Chatterton,  his  falsehoods  and  inconsistencies  are  susceptible  of  easy  ex- 
planation. He  would  have  imposed  the  first  part  of  the  Battle  of  Hastings  on 
Mr.  Barrett,  as  an  ancient  production,  and  only  confessed  the  deception  in  a 
moment  of  snrprize  and  inadvertence.  Is  it  to  be  supposed,  if  that  gentleman 
had  made  no  inquiries  into  the  authenticity  of  the  verses,  that  Chatterton 
would  have  voluntarily  undeceived  him  ?  And  if  we  admit,  that  in  this  in- 
stance he  endeavoured  to  betray  the  confidence  of  his  friend  by  fraud  and 
falsehood,  at  what  point  are  we  to  limit  his  deceptions  ?  On  the  other  side, 
if  vanity  excited  him  to  claim  as  his  own  a  genuine  production  of  Rowley, 
why  did  he  not  claim  the  composition  of  the  rest  of  the  manuscripts  ?  He 
might  have  done  so  with  impunity  :  and  since  he  was  not  restrained  by  any 
reverence  for  truth,  it  is  probable  that  he  was  only  withheld  from  acknow- 
ledging his  productions  by  the  same  motives,  that  led  to  their  ascription  to 
an  imaginary  parent;  the  conviction  that  they  would  be  despised  and  neg- 
lected as  the  production  of  an  apprentice  boy,  of  obscure  birth  and  imperfect 
education. 

To  obviate  these  difficulties,  it  has  been  supposed  by  the  later  advocates 
for  the  authenticity  of  the  poems,  that  Chatterton  did  actually  discover  cer- 
tain compositions  of  Rowley  among  the  neglected  parchments;  that  he  ex- 
panded and  improved  them,  and  was  excited  in  one  or  two  instances  to 
imitate  their  appearance  and  phraseology. 

Consistently  with  this  supposition,  it  must  be  conjectured,  that  the 
parchments  he  endeavoured  to  disguise  were  intended  as  the  materials  of  this 
mode  of  amusement,  and  that  he  submitted  the  first  part  of  the  Battle  of 
Hastings  to  the  inspection  of  Barrett,  as  the  best  experiment  by  which  he 
could  determine  his  own  success.  But  to  indulge  in  these  speculations  is 
only  to  explain  one  wonder  by  another.  The  individual  who  wrote  the  first 
part  of  the  Battle  of  Hastings,  must  have  had  learning  enough,  at  least,  to 
compose  all  the  rest  of  the  poems :  and  to  distinguish  the  interpolated  pas- 
sages from  those  which  are  supposed  to  be  genuine,  is  a  task  to  which  the 
most  accomplished  critic  would  be  found  unequal. 


CHATTERTON  S    ACQUIREMENTS.  55 

It  is  recorded  by  his  relatives,  that  having  occasion  to  write  to  an  absent 
friend,  his  letter  was  composed  of  all  the  hard  words  that  he  could  collect, 
and  contained  a  request,  that  it  might  be  answered  in  a  similar  manner.  This 
circumstance  affords  a  clue  to  the  composition  of  Rowley,  and  to  all  the  sub- 
sequent writings  of  their  author. 

Having  become  in  some  degree  conversant  with  the  obsolete  language 
of  the  fifteenth  century,  he  was  willing  to  exercise  the  same  species  of  inge- 
nuity in  the  production  of  more  elaborate  works,  that  he  had  before  devoted 
to  the  composition  of  a  letter.  The  Poems  of  Mason,  and  particularly  the 
Tragedy  of  Elfrida,  were  at  that  time  the  themes  of  critical  applause,  and  of 
popular  imitation.  Walpole's  "  Castle  of  Otranto"  had  just  attained  peculiar 
publicity;  and  this  work  was  published  with  all  the  arts  of  fiction,  mystery, 
and  falsehood.  The  poems  of  Ossian,  or  rather  of  Macpherson,  were  then  the 
subject  of  public  criticism,  curiosity,  and  controversy.  These  were  all  cal- 
culated to  fasten  on  the  mind  of  Chatterton,  and  it  is  very  probable,  that  he 
was  accustomed  to  amuse  himself  during  the  hours  of  sedentary  confinement, 
by  couching  his  own  imitations  of  these  and  other  popular  compositions,  in 
the  obsolete  language  and  phraseology  of  the  fifteenth  and  fourteenth  centu- 
ries. By  the  assistance  of  Speght  and  Bailey,  he  was  enabled  to  accomplish 
his  purpose  with  a  facility,  which  would  not  be  suspected,  but  by  those  who 
have  repeated  the  experiment.  Surprized  at  his  own  success,  the  amusement 
of  his  solitude  became  his  regular  and  his  favourite  occupation.  A  new  field 
was  opened  to  his  personal  and  literary  ambition,  and  beneath  the  name  of 
Rowley,  he  foresaw  the  easy  acquisition  and  durable  existence  of  a  species  of 
literary  fame,  to  which  the  pretensions  of  the  unlettered  boy  would  have  been 
partially  and  unwillingly  conceded. 

To  render  the  deception  so  complete,  that  it  should  defy  the  scrutiny  of 
common  inquirers,  he  possessed  all  the  learning  and  all  the  resources  that 
were  necessary.  An  inaccurate  acquaintance  with  the  vocabulary  of  our  fore- 
fathers ;  a  cursory  knowledge  of  Speght,  and  Stow,  and  Camden ;  a  super- 
ficial recollection  of  Saxon  genealogy,  and  of  one  or  two  ancient  Chronicles, 
were  all  the  materials  which  were  requisite  to  the  accomplishment  of  the 
forgery.  That  Chatterton  had  access  to  many  of  these  resources,  is  known 
from  positive  testimony;  the  few  authors  to  whom  his  reference  has  not  been 
positively  traced,  are  neither  rare  nor  valuable ;  and  his  deficiency  in  anti- . 
quarian  and  historical  knowledge,  was  supplied  by  the  opportunities  of  his 
local  situation. 


36  REDCLIFFE    CHURCH. 

It  has  been  observed,  that  in  the  Battle  of  Hastings,  the  names  of  the 
Saxons  are  but  sparingly  interspersed,  while  the  Normans  are  minutely  and 
distinctly  commemorated ;  and  Mr.  Warton  accounts  for  the  circumstance  by 
informing  us,  that  Chatterton  copied  the  names  of  the  Normans  from  Fuller's 
Church  History,  while  of  the  Saxons  he  had  only  the  scanty  knowledge,  that 
might  be  obtained  in  the  general  course  of  his  reading.  It  is  known  that  an 
old  translation  of  Camden  was  among  the  books  to  which  he  had  access, 
and  many  of  the  names  and  facts  which  Mr.  Bryant  enumerates  as  beyond 
the  research  of  a  school-boy,  are  to  be  found  in  the  Britannia.  In  various 
instances,  as  in  bestoike  and  Chericauncie,  he  has  been  misled,  as  in  others  he 
was  assisted,  by  Bailey's  Dictionary. 

But  we  are  triumphantly  reminded  of  the  short  and  hurried  intervals, 
in  which,  on  the  supposition  that  Chatterton  was  the  author  of  the  poems,  he 
must  have  accomplished  such  important  and  multifarious  writings.  It  might 
be  sufficient,  without  adverting  to  the  evidence,  to  reply,  that  the  labour  of 
deciphering,  transcribing,  and  explaining  the  works  of  Rowley,  supposing 
them  to  have  been  genuine,  must  have  been  equal  to  that  expended  on  their 
original  composition.  On  reviewing  the  history  of  his  youth,  it  will  appear, 
however,  that  his  opportunities  of  literary  labour  were  fully  equal,  allowing 
for  his  known  rapidity  of  composition,  to  the  production  of  still  more  ex- 
tensive and  arduous  undertakings.  At  Colston's  school,  the  hours  of  applica- 
tion were,  in  the  Summer,  from  seven  to  twelve,  and  from  one  to  five;,  in  the. 
Winter  two  hours  less  each  day.  He  was  always  in  bed  by  eight  o'clock ;  but 
was  permitted  to  be  absent  on  Saturdays  and  Saints  days,  from  one  or  two  at 
noon,  till  seven  or  eight  in  the  evening.  Admitting,  therefore,  an  hour  in 
each  day  to  have  been  devoted  to  the  purposes  of  cleanliness,  there  were  in. 
summer  three  hours,  and  in  winter  five  of  each  day,  besides  about  three  half 
days  in  every  fortnight,  that  he  could  devote  to  his  juvenile  pursuits.  His 
habits  were  solitary;  and  the  intervals  devoted  by  the  other  boys  to  the  sports 
of  childhood,  were  employed  by  him  in  reading  or  contemplation.  In  Mr. 
Lambert's  office,  a  very  small  portion  of  the  day  was  devoted  to  business. 

Within  the  compass  of  a  year  and  a-half,  assisted  by  leisure,  and  stimu- 
lated by  enthusiasm,  many  poets  have  outdone  the  labours  of  Chatterton ; 
and  even  after  supposing  one-half  of  his  time  to  have  been  devoted  to  his 
glossary  and  his  Camden,  it  may  be  questioned,  whether  the  number  of  his 
works  exceeded,  in  proportion  to  the  time  expended  in  their  composition, 


MONODY  ON  CHATTERTON. 


S7 


the  performances  of  a  Blacket,  and  a  Dermody.*  Fluency  may  be  attained  by 
perseverance,  and  the  compositions  of  the  man  of  genius  may  flow  from  his 
pen,  with  the  same  exuberant  rapidity,  that  marks  the  unpremeditated  com- 
positions of  the  copious  but  feeble  versifier. 

*  The  history  of  this  extraordinary  poet,  and  indiscreet  youth,  ha9  been  minutely  narrated  by 
Mr.  Raymond,  in  two  volumes,  12mo.  Among  Dermody's  poems  is  "  A  Monody  on  Chatterton," 
of  such  exquisite  pathos,  and  eloquence,  and  so  peculiarly  apposite  to  our  present  subject,  that  I 
conceive  the  reader  will  be  gratified  in  perusing  the  following  passages  from  it. 

Monody  on  Chatterton,  written  by  the  late  Thomas  Dermodt, 
in  the  12th  year  of  his  age. 


Daughters  of  Heav'n !  blest  sisters  of  sweet  song, 

Who  nurse  the  seedlings  that  prolific  rise 

From  Poesy's  illustrious  birth, 

Firing  some  favour'd  son  of  earth, 

And  lending  to  his  breast  a  portion  of  the  skies  j 

O  !  hither  move  along 

In  pensive  pace, 

Lead  bright  Imagination's  seraph-throng 

O'er  the  rude  stones  that  frown  uncouth — 

In  yon  deep  dell's  oblivious  gloom 

Sadly  sleeps  a  once  lov'd  youth. 

Ye  wood-flowers,  breathe  your  wild  perfume, 
Ye  shrouded  warblers,  harmonize  the  gale, 
Here,  Autumn,  fling  thy  brilliant  bloom, 
And  fence  from  wayward  winds  the  sacred  vale  j 

Tread  soft,  ye  infants  of  the  air, 
While  in  the  mazy  dance  you  turn, 
Tread  soft — and  pause  to  mourn, 
Mingling  your  mystic  sports  with  sickly  care, 
For  genius  slumbers  here  ! 

True  Genius,  prompt  to  mount  the  sphere 
Of  fancy,  thro'  pure  rapture's  maze, 
And  view  her  with  unshrinking  gaze, 
Prompt  to  veil  in  antique  dress 
What  ancientry  could  ne'er  expressj 
Catch  the  Buskin's  lofty  mien, 
Or  woo  the  laughter-loving  Queen. 
Immortal  Boy,  thee  angels  fed 
With  Poesy's  abstracted  food, 


Thy  bowl  was  fill'd  from  Fancy's  fountain  head, 
Thy  bowl  with  wondrous  ecstasies  embuedj 
By  heaven's  own  chymic  skill  refined, 
Thine  was  the  manner  of  the  mind. 

Had  he  but  gain'd  bis  manhood's  mighty  prime, 

Bright  as  the  Sun,  and  as  the  Sun  sublime, 

His  soaring  soul  had  borne  the  awful  wand 

Of  magic  power,  and  o'er  the  fairy  land 

Of  Fancy  shed  a  new  poetic  race, 

Lending  creation  to  his  favor'd  place. 

But  oh  !  the  dying  sounds  decay, 

Ah  !  they  fade  away, 

Melting,  melting,  melting, 

Melting  from  the  ear  of  day. 

Despair  assumes  the  Muse's  lyre, 

Damps  each  softly-sinking  fire, 

Presses  the  fury  spirit  down  below, 

And  tells  his  stubborn  soul  the  bitter  tale  of  woe. 

At  last,  superior  to  her  chain, 
He  flies  o'er  Madness'  wild  domain, 
Despis'd  and  dejected— he  faints  and  he  sighs! 
Too  rigorous  Heav'n !  how  ghastly  his  eyes  ! 
Thus  I  triumph  o'er  all— lo !  a  Chatterton  dies ! 

Spare  oh!  spare  Almighty  pow'r  1 
His  frenzy'd  passions  and  his  last  black  hour  j 
Spare  his  mortal  portion,  spare  ! 
Think  upon  his  case  distrest, 
And  of  his  soul's  fine  essence  grant  a  share  to  some 
pure  breast ! 


88  REDCLIFFE    CHURCH. 

Pride,  unbounded  and  solitary  pride,  was  the  leading  feature  in  the  cha- 
racter of  Chatterton ;  and  had  its  direction  been  guided,  or  its  exuberance 
repressed  by  the  salutary  influence  of  religious  or  moral  truth,  instead  of  ex- 
citing him  to  a  secret,  and  selfish  triumph  over  the  dupes  of  successful  for- 
gery, its  influence  would  have  inspired  the  honourable  zeal  of  open  and  manly 
emulation. 

It  has  been  the  pride  of  modern  literature  to  degrade  the  character  of 
Walpole.  That,  as  a  man  he  was  sarcastic,  fretful,  and  fastidious ;  prone  to 
satirical  comment  on  the  failings  of  his  friends ;  easily  disgusted  by  uncouth- 
ness  of  manners  or  impropriety  of  speech;  accustomed  to  regard  the  world  of 
professional  literature,  with  the  supercilious  smile  of  conscious  elevation;  is 
evident  from  his  letters,  and  the  memorabilia  published  in  "  Walpoliana." 
These  imperfections  and  eccentricities  were  the  natural  accompaniments  of 
an  irritable  temperament,  and  an  aristocratic  education;  they  were  confirmed 
and  exasperated  by  the  exquisite  sensibility  of  his  taste ;  which  detected  with 
intuitive  rapidity  the  slightest  deviation  from  good  manners.  The  Architect 
of  Strawberry  Hill,  and  the  author  of  the  Letter  on  Grace,  might  display 
without  offence,  a  distaste  of  promiscuous  intercourse,  and  a  severity  of  deci- 
sion on  the  character  and  the  manners  of  the  intruders  on  his  notice,  that  in 
the  common  possessor  of  rank  and  fortune,  would  both  deserve  and  receive 
the  salutary  infliction  of  legitimate  satire. 

To  this  individual,  of  habits  so  fastidious,  so  select  in  his  intercourse, 
and  so  tender  of  his  literary  fame,  it  was  the  misfortune  of  Chatterton  to  ap- 
ply :  and  had  Walpole  possessed  the  lights  in  which  we  at  present  view  the 
endowments  of  his  supplicant,  there  seems  no  reason  to  doubt  that  he  would 
have  sacrificed  many  of  his  jealousies  and  prepossessions  to  the  encourage- 
ment of  so  extraordinary  a  phenomenon.  As  it  was,  he  must  have  felt  indig- 
nant at  the  presumption  and  mercenary  spirit  of  a  boy,  who  could  first  at- 
tempt to  make  him  the  dupe  of  his  forgeries,  and  afterwards  endeavour  to 
rest  his  claims  for  support,  or  patronage,  on  the  productions  of  his  artifice. 
Walpole's  discretion,  or  his  humanity,  however,  overcame  his  anger,  and  in  a 
letter  equally  remarkable  for  the  gentleness  of  its  reproof,  and  its  good  sense, 
he  exhorts  him  to  apply  with  industry  and  perseverance,  to  the  duties  of  his 
profession,  as  the  surest  means  of  enabling  him  hereafter  to  discharge  the 
debt  of  gratitude  to  his  relatives. 

The  same  sacrifice  of  principle  to  the  expectation  or  possession  of  pecu- 


LETTERS  OF  CHATTERTON.  39 

niary  advantage,  that  marked  Chatterton's  application  to  Walpole,  is  too  visi- 
ble in  his  literary  undertakings  after  his  establishment  in  the  metropolis. 
Some  weeks  after  his  arrival,  he  calculates  on  the  profits  that  might  have  been 
made  on  Rowley,  had  the  gude  old  priest  been  a  Londoner  instead  of  a  Bris- 
towyian.  He  writes  on  either  side  of  the  question,  as  suits  his  immediate, 
convenience ;  and  at  a  time,  when,  if  we  believe  his  own  account,  he  enter- 
tained no  dread  of  pecuniary  distress,  he  coldly  estimates  the  death  of  a  man 
whom  even  his  enemies  lamented,  at  the  price  of  his  elegy.  He  seems  in  his 
letters  to  be  conscious  that  his  frequent  appearance  at  public  places,  demands 
an  apology ;  and  his  Burlettas,  written  for  Marylebone  Gardens,  appear  to 
testify  his  intimacy  with  the  leaders  of  those  circles  in  which  no  young  man 
©f  enthusiasm  ever  moved  without  corruption. 

His  vices  and  his  errors  were  the  natural  result  of  ardent  passions,  un- 
controlled by  any  restraint  but  convenience,  undirected  by  any  motive  but 
the  immediate  gratification  of  the  passing  hour.  Had  he  died  a  death  less 
premature,  it  is  impossible  that  a  mind  like  his  should  not  have  discovered 
the  folly  of  that  pride,  which  finds  its  chief  gratification  in  singularity ;  and 
that  sacrifices  to  a  vain  display  of  intellectual  independence,  the  most  mo- 
mentous interests  that  can  excite  the  speculation,  or  affect  the  happiness  of 
man.  His  pride  would  have  been  subdued  into  virtuous  dignity ;  the  stub- 
bornness of  unbending  vanity,  would  have  been  converted  into  the  undis- 
mayed and  persevering  fortitude  of  the  Christian,  and  instead  of  terminating, 
with  the  melancholy  resolution  of  despair,  a  short  and  unhappy  career,  he 
might  have  improved  by  his  example,  that  community  which  he  had  adorned 
and  enlightened  by  his  talents ;  honoured  during  the  splendid  progress  of  his 
mortal  existence  by  the  learned  and  the  good,  and  the  theme  in  after  ages  of 
virtuous  reverence,  and  literary  praise. 

The  following  letters  from  Chatterton  to  Dodsley  the  bookseller,  re- 
specting his  Play  of  iElla,  &c.  have  never  yet  been  published ;  but  as  they 
tend  to  strengthen  the  arguments  here  advanced,  I  am  induced  to  print 
them.  The  cunning,  deception,  and  finesse  of  the  young  poet,  are  strongly 
illustrated  in  these  letters. — They  were  written  before  he  commenced  his 
correspondence  with  Walpole. 


40  REDCLIFFE    CHURCH. 

LETTER  I. 

Sib,  Bristol,  Dec.  21,  1768. 

I  take  this  method  to  acquaint  you,  that  I  can  procure  copies  of  several  ancient  Poems ;  and 

an  Interlude,  perhaps  the  oldest  dramatic  piece  extant ;  wrote  by  one  Rowley,  a  Priest  in  Bristol, 

who  lived  in  the  reigns  of  Henry  Vlth  and  Edward  IVth. — If  these  Pieces  will  be  of  service  to  you, 

at  your  command,  copies  shall  be  sent  to  you,  by 

Your  most  obedient  Servant, 

Please  to  direct  for  D.  B.  to  be  left  with  Mr.  Thomas  Chatterton,  D.  B. 

Redclift  Hill,  Bristol. 

For  Mr.  J.  Dodsley,  Bookseller,  Pall  Mall,  London. 

LETTER  II. 
Sib,  Bristol,  Feb.  15,  l?6g. 

Having  intelligence  that  the  Tragedy  of  jfEIla  was  in  being,  after  a  long  and  laborious  search, 

I  was  so  happy  as  to  attain  a  sight  of  it.      Struck  with  the  beauties  of  it,  I  endeavoured  to  obtain  a 

copy  to  send  to  you :  but  the  present  possessor  absolutely  denies  to  give  me  one,  unless  I  give  him  a 

Guinea  for  a  consideration.    As  I  am  unable  to  procure  such  a  sum,  I  made  search  for  another  copy, 

but  unsuccessfully. — Unwilling  such  a  beauteous  Piece  should  be  lost,  I  have  made  bold  to  apply  to 

you :  several  Gentlemen  of  learning  who  have  seen  it,  join  with  me  in  praising  it. — I  am  far  from 

having  any  mercenary  views  for  myself  in  this  affair,  and,  was  I  able,  would  print  it  on  my  own 

risque.     It  is  a  perfect  Tragedy,  the  plot  clear,  the  language  spirited,  and  the  Songs  (interspersed  in  it) 

are  flowing,  poetical,  and  elegantly  simple.    The  similies  judiciously  applied,  and  though  wrote  in  the 

reign  of  Henry  Vlth,  not  inferior  to  many  of  the  present  age.      If  I  can  procure  a  Copy,  with  or 

without  the  gratification,  it  shall  immediately  be  sent  to  you.    The  motive  that  actuates  me  to  do 

this,  is,  to  convince  the  world  that  the  Monks  (of  whom  some  have  so  despicable  an  opinion)  were 

not  such  blockheads,  as  generally  thought,  and  that  good  poetry  might  be  wrote  in  the  dark  days  of 

superstition,  as  well  as  in  these  more  enlightened  ages.    An  immediate  answer  will  oblige  me.     I  shall 

not  receive  your  favour  as  for  myself,  but  as  your  agent. 

I  am,  Sir, 

Your  most  obedient  Servant, 

T.  CHATTERTON. 

P.  S.  My  reason  for  concealing  my  name,  was,  lest  my  Master  (who  is  now  out  of  Town)  should 
see  my  letters,  and  think  I  neglected  his  business. 

Direct  for  me  on  Redclift  Hill. 

After  a  specimen  of  the  Tragedy,  in  part  of  ^Ella's  speech,  he  says — 

The  whole  contains  about  1000  lines. 

If  it  should  not  suit  you,  I  should  be  obliged  to  you  if  you  would  calculate  the  expenses  of  print- 
ing it,  as  I  will  endeavour  to  publish  it  by  subscription  on  my  own  account. 

For  Mr.  James  Dodsley,  Bookseller^  Pall  Mall,  London. . 


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